Coming Home for the Quasquicentennial

On September 24, Dr. Khalid Osman returned to the University of Portland, where he earned his civil engineering degree in 2016, to speak on the “Shaping Portland’s Future: UP for the Common Good” panel at the university’s 125th anniversary celebration dinner. Joining fellow alumni from nonprofit leadership and environmental law, he reflected on the faculty and staff who shaped his path, encouraged him to consider a Ph.D., and made him feel he belonged. He also spoke about how UP’s “Mind, Hands, Heart” ethos still guides his work on water infrastructure at Stanford. He noted that changing a student’s trajectory can begin with simply seeing something in them that they haven’t yet learned to see in themselves.