June 5, 2023, KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) welcomes graduates, their families, and friends to Klamath Falls on June 17 at 10 a.m. to celebrate the Class of 2023. Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read will provide the keynote address at the ceremony.
Oregon Tech graduating students Ashley Ripplinger (Dual Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences) and Trent LaMont (Mechanical Engineering) will provide addresses on behalf of their colleges. Ripplinger will give an address for the College of Health, Arts, and Sciences, and LaMont will speak on behalf of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Management.
Elected to be Oregon’s 29th State Treasurer in 2016, Tobias Read draws upon his management, political, and finance policy experience to serve Oregonians as Treasurer.
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Read worked in the U.S. Treasury and as a liaison between designers, engineers, and manufacturing units for Nike Inc. In 2006, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives, where he served a decade and championed legislation to invest in public education, improve state financial management, finance critical infrastructure improvements, and help Oregonians save for a more secure future.
Read earned his bachelor’s degree from Willamette University and his Master of Business Administration from the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He lives in Beaverton with his wife, Heidi Eggert, and their two children.
Ashley Ripplinger is graduating from Oregon Tech with a 4.0 GPA and a double major in Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences.
- Ripplinger was chosen as the Outstanding Scholar for both Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, winner of the Health, Arts, and Sciences President’s Senior Cup Award, and was nominated for the Student Achievement Award.
- While at Oregon Tech, Ripplinger played collegiate volleyball and was named to the Cascade Collegiate Conference All-Academic team, the College Sports Communicators National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Academic All-District 4 team, and was a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Scholar-Athlete for the 2022 season.
- Ripplinger was involved in Oregon Tech clubs as Digital Media Officer of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Vice President of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. She is also a member of the engineering honors society, Tau Beta Pi.
- Ripplinger recently passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, the first of two examinations that engineers must pass to be licensed as a professional engineer in the United States. Upon graduation, Ripplinger will work for civil engineering consulting firm MacKay Sposito as an Engineer 1.
Trent LaMont is graduating from Oregon Tech’s Mechanical Engineering program magna cum laude and from the Oregon Tech Honors Program.
- LaMont is a recipient of the DeArmond Manufacturing Fellows Scholarship, which provides an educational experience through Oregon Tech and the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center Research & Development (OMIC R&D). The fellow scholarship includes an internship at the OMIC R&D facility in Scappoose to work collaboratively with researchers and industry professionals. While at OMIC R&D, LaMont participated in hands-on applied professional development experience and mentored incoming fellows.
- On campus, LaMont was involved in Housing and Residence Life for three years, working as a Resident Assistant, Senior Resident Assistant, and Senior Head Resident. He also worked at the Oregon Tech radio station, KTEC, as Programming Director and Station Manager, helping to bring back the Oregon Tech Music Garden event in 2023. LaMont volunteered on the university’s Financial Allocation Committee from 2022-2023 and was a member of the new Student Housing Project Steering Committee.
- LaMont graduates as a member of the engineering honors society, Tau Beta Pi, and has secured a job at OMIC R&D as an Associate Manufacturing Solutions Researcher-Additive.
Following the Klamath Falls event, Oregon Tech’s Portland-Metro campus will celebrate commencement on June 18, at 11 a.m., with Oregon House Representative Janelle Bynum. Oregon Tech’s Seattle campus ceremony will take place June 20 to celebrate program graduates who are employees at Boeing. Matt Knighton, Executive Chief Production Engineer for the 767 program at Boeing, will provide a keynote address in Mukilteo, Washington.
For more information about Oregon Tech’s commencement ceremonies, visit www.oit.edu/registrar/graduate/commencement.
