Karen Jeffery ’11

Southern Oregon University (SOU) has hundreds of non-traditional students who work, go to school part or full time and take care of their families while trying to make ends meet. Karen Jeffery ’11 epitomizes the hard working, dedicated and family-oriented non-traditional students here at SOU. She grew up in Seattle and the Midwest before heading to California to study at the University of California – Irvine (UC Irvine). Then after a year teaching in Hawaii, she relocated to Oregon and opened a restaurant. By the late 1970s, she returned to Hawaii, where she spent many years building four businesses and raising three children—and eventually welcoming three grandchildren. In 2008, the entire family moved to Ashland.

Although she had completed two years of coursework at UC Irvine, over three decades had passed before Jeffery decided to resume her education at SOU. “Going back to school at a university in my mid-sixties was a difficult challenge, but I loved it and was able to build a 4.0 GPA,” she recalled. While at SOU, she published her first novel, Hot Tickets, and served as a director at Peace House, where she worked alongside student leader Shaun Franks ’14 to support campus activism. “I wanted to be a good role model for my grandsons, now OSU graduates. Having professors I enjoyed and appreciated—like Bill Gholson—was icing on the cake.”

After graduating in 2011, Jeffery wrote for Southern Oregon Magazine and a local free press. She also spent six months in southern France, where she kept up her column, her blog, and began another book project.

Looking back, Jeffery credits SOU with sparking a period of deep growth and new possibility. “SOU gave me the chance to reinvent myself in ways I never imagined,” she said. “It wasn’t just about the degree—it was about finding my voice, engaging with community, and proving to myself and my family that learning truly is lifelong.”

Learn more at: Maui Writer