Engineering
Nursing
April 22, 2025
A sunny spring morning served as an idyllic backdrop on The Bluff as United States Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, M.D., who serves Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, visited the University of Portland campus on Wednesday, April 16.
University President Robert D. Kelly and Provost David Mengel led the first-term Congresswoman on a campus tour that included a visit to the School of Nursing & Health Innovations Simulated Health Center and the Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation.
Rep. Dexter, a career pulmonologist and critical care medicine specialist elected to Oregon’s 3rd Congressional seat last November, quipped, “I’ve seen a lot of this in my time,” when nursing students and staff showed off the state’s only fully accredited Simulated Health Lab.
Raymond Fernandez, a senior nursing major, led Rep. Dexter’s Sim Lab visit, highlighting what he called “the highest level of simulated learning nursing students can get.”
Three Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering majors—Senior Sophie Arcangel, Junior Zachary Beck, and Sophomore Ainsley Henry—walked Rep. Dexter around the one-year-old Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation. Henry gave a brief demonstration of ongoing wildfire smoke experiments in the Shiley-Marcos Combustion Lab, which prompted the Congresswoman to express her commitment to reducing the public health risks of wildfire smoke.
“We try to bring in people from various walks of life—and various expertise—to solve problems that are bigger than ourselves,” Dr. Tammy VanDeGrift, Interim Engineering Dean, told Rep. Dexter as students detailed their research projects.
Following the visit, Congresswoman Dexter said: “Today at the University of Portland, I witnessed students shaping the future—engineering next-gen wildfire tracking systems, advancing aeronautics, and training to become the medical professionals our communities will depend on. Their passion, innovation, and commitment to service give me real hope for what’s ahead.”
Dr. Kelly, noting Rep. Dexter’s keen interest in health care and environmental issues, appreciates having lawmakers visit campus to learn how the University’s best and brightest are innovating around society’s most critical issues.
“We love welcoming leaders, like Congresswoman Dexter, to our beautiful Bluff,” said Dr. Kelly. “This leans into our efforts to be the University of, for, and with Portland—and the world.”
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