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• Animals in Our Lives and Literature

  • When
    26 Feb 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Willamette Heritage Center, Dye House, 1313 Mill St Salem Oregon, 97301

  Register

  Thursday, February 26, 2026

  Welcome to our 10th Annual Salem Reads Program!  Presented in partnership with the Salem Public Library Foundation and Salem Reads: One Book One Community.  The book selection this year is Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt.

  
  

  Speaker: 

  Emily Plec, 

  Professor of Communication

  Western Oregon University

  
  

  
  

  Where do our ideas about other animals come from? How do our personal experiences and media consumption shape our perceptions of the more than human world? And how are our relationships with nonhumans impacted by the stories we hear and tell-about ourselves and about them? In this talk, we'll explore the ways that narratives (including those told by non-human narrators) can offer us what one famous theorist called 'equipment for living' in a society and in an era increasingly marked by fear, alienation, isolation and disconnection.  Participants will learn about the current state of animal studies in communication and have opportunities to share their own experiences and perspectives on the topic.

  
  

  Emily Plec (PhD, University of Utah, MA, University of New Mexico) is professor of Communication at Western Oregon University, where she teaches courses in rhetoric, media, sport, intercultural, environmental and animal communication.  Editor of Perspectives on Human-Animal Communication: Internatural Communication (Routledge, 2013), Plec advocates for a Communication discipline that considers a meaningful interaction to be a more-than-human enterprise.  Her scholarship on humans focuses on communication and social justice with emphases on: the rhetoric on racism in sports, the discourse of women leaders, the labor rights of farmworkers, prison communication and death penalty discourse, and environmental communication pedagogy and practice.

  Program Sponsors:

  Jan & Les Margosian

  Event Details:

  Doors open at 11:30

  Program starts at 12:00

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• Oregon's Education Landscape: Statewide Insights with a Salem-Keizer Lens

  • When
    12 Mar 2026
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Willamette Heritage Center, Dye House, 1313 Mill St Salem Oregon, 97301

  Register

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Oregon's educational landscape is shifting, and this program will highlight the unique role Foundations for a Better Oregon plays in bringing communities, policymakers and partners together to strengthen systems for children.  We will explore the intent and impact of the Student Success Act, review Oregon's and Salem-Keizer's early literacy performance, and consider how our state compares nationally, including where significant equity gaps persist.  The program will also outline reasons for optimism as new investments, research-based practices, and community partnerships begin to take hold.  Salem-Keizer Public Schools will then focus on how the district is responding to its reading and math scores-especially at the elementary level-through  targeted supports, instructional shifts, and renewed attention to student belonging and engagement.

  
  

  Whitney Grubbs

  Executive Director, Foundations for a Better Oregon

  
  

  Whitney brings more than twenty years of public-policy leadership across

  Oregon's government, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors.  With a BA and JD (both with honors) from the University of Montana and service in the Governor's Office and the Oregon Education Investment Board, she will frame Oregon's education landscape through the Student Success Act, early literacy performance, national comparisons, equity gaps, and reasons for optimism.

  
  

  Olga Cobb

  Deputy Superintendent for Elementary Schools

  Salem-Keizer School District

  
  

  Olga has served Salem-Keizer Public Schools for more than two decades, beginning as a bilingual instructional assistant and rising through roles as principal, director and district leader.  Born in Columbia and holding degrees from Universidad del Valle and Portland State University, she will share how the district is responding to reading and math scores through targeted supports and equity-centered instructional strategies.

  Event Details:

  Doors open at 11:30

  Program starts at 12:00

  Show details