The Oregon State University Foundation, with support from OSU-Cascades, was pleased to host a dinner on June 29, 2022, to congratulate Interim President Becky Johnson on her upcoming retirement after 38 years of leadership at OSU. Together with donors and community members from the Bend area and beyond, we celebrated her accomplishments, including 12 years of exceptional leadership at OSU-Cascades and most recently as the university’s interim president. 

At the celebratory dinner in Bend, where her influence is visible at every turn, donors and university leaders voiced their gratitude for Johnson’s creative, persistent and personally impactful leadership. 

Johnson and her wife, Lori Elkins, College of Forestry M.S. ’03, were surprised to learn that donors from OSU-Cascades and beyond stepped forward with gifts totaling $450,000 to create an endowed scholarship in their honor. The scholarship will carry on their legacy of advancing student success by supporting OSU-Cascades students with financial need.

Make a gift to the Becky Johnson and Lori Elkins Endowed Scholarship Fund for OSU-Cascades Students.* 

Shawn L. Scoville, president and CEO of the OSU Foundation, prefaced the scholarship announcement by saying, “Becky, with her calm demeanor, complete lack of pretense, her faith in the ability of her colleagues and her proclivity to always look forward, led the establishment of a successful four-year university in Central Oregon and helped guide our university during transitions when we needed her most.”