Grad Carries UO in her Heart

You’ve seen her photo on UO’s annual giving web page and, chances are, sometime over the last four years, you’ve heard her voice on the phone inquiring if you’d like to help UO students or academic programs with an annual gift.

And now, you get to know another University of Oregon success story as Emma Nelson-Munson graduates and heads for law school.

Emma’s story – like many here at UO – is made possible in large part because of the financial support of UO alumni, parents and friends.

A Spanish and French Romance Languages major, the cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate credits a Dean’s Scholarship for helping her attend UO.

Now headed for Hofstra University on Long Island, NY to study law for three years, Emma has her sights on a career in the Foreign Service, the United Nations or international litigation. She gratefully acknowledges her tenure at UO as a significant reason she will reach her goals.

“I came to UO because financially, it was the most feasible,” she explains. “But the longer I was here, I found the professors so accessible to students and classes I really connected with,” she shares.

“And then there’s the facilities,” she elaborates. “The libraries are the best” she adds with a nod – having spent much of the last four years in them.

She recalls that recently while she was strolling through one of the campus libraries, she saw a study table that had been funded, in part, by a woman she knows. Emma said she pulled out her cell phone and called the donor on the spot to thank her.

That spontaneity wouldn’t have happened four years ago, Emma explains.

A self-described shy person when she first enrolled at UO, Emma soon went to work as a student caller at the Annual Giving Program to help pay her way through school. She learned the history of the university and the importance of annual giving. And suddenly, after she began making phone calls to alumni, parents and friends, the once shy girl came out of her shell and began making friends every where she went.

Of her four years employed at the Annual Giving Program, she says, “The program teaches you personal and professional skills you can’t learn anywhere else.”

That, she explains, coupled with the excellent four-year education she received has prompted her, “to try to get everyone to come to UO because I wish more people knew about the opportunities on campus.”

As she leaves, Emma says she will always carry the memories and the great knowledge she acquired at the University of Oregon with her.

“It really is true,” she offers, “Once you’re at UO, you’re always a part of it.”

With her enthusiastic smile for which she has become well-known across campus, Emma proudly concludes, “As they say, ‘Once a duck – always a duck!’”