May 4, 2026 | Curry Campus, Curry News, News, OCCI News
Summer Term 2026-27 is quickly approaching, and Fall Term will be here before we know it!
- SUMMER TERM: Classes start Monday, June 22, 2026
- FALL TERM: Classes start Monday, Sept. 14, 2026
Below are instructions about how to register. If you are experiencing any issues registering after reading the below, please contact us:
- Coos Campus Students: Call 541-888-7352 or Email
- Curry Campus Students: Call 541-813-1667 or Email
REGISTRATION FOR DEGREE OR CERTIFICATE SEEKING STUDENTS:
If you are already a current/admitted student, below are instructions on registering.
Not a current or admitted student? You’ll need to first complete an Application for Admission to Southwestern** Not sure whether or not you’re an admitted student? Contact us using the information above! (**Note: If you’re a community member simply looking to take a credit class for fun or personal enrichment, you’ll complete the Community Education and Personal Enrichment Form in lieu of the Application for Admission).
SUMMER TERM: Credit classes begin Monday, June 22, 2026. Registration for credit classes is available May 4, 2026 – June 24, 2026 (From June 25 – July 1, you will first need instructor consent before registering for a class).
FALL TERM: Credit classes begin Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. Registration is available May 4, 2026 – Sept. 16, 2025 (From Sept. 17 – 23, you will first need instructor consent before registering for a class).
To register:
- First, clear with your advisor! If you’re unsure who your advisor is, you may call 541-888-7405 or schedule an advising meeting. Curry Campus students call 541-813-1667.
- Login to myLakerLink using your student ID and password.
- Search for courses to add under the appropriate term drop down. **Be sure you filter for credit classes (NOT community education classes)**
REGISTRATION FOR COMMUNITY CLASSES (COMMUNITY EDUCATION):
Summer Term 2026-27 community education class registration opens Monday, June 1 at 8:00 a.m. To register, follow the instructions on the top of the community class page. Classes offered for the term will post on the page prior to registration opening.
Stay tuned! Information about Fall Term 2026-27 community education class registration will become available later this summer.
As a reminder, all academic term dates and other important milestones may be found on the Academic Calendar. Click on the “2026-27 Academic Calendar” button, or click on the “categories” button and filter for “instructional calendar” to view the online version.
Apr 22, 2026 | Community, Curry Campus
Brookings, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College Curry Campus invites the community to join us on Thursday, May 14, 2026, 1:00 to 2:00 pm, for a presentation on Adventures in South Africa by Vicki Gorham.
This is a free program sponsored by the Friends of Curry Campus and will be held in the Community Room on Southwestern’s Curry Campus, 96082 Lone Ranch Parkway (off Highway 101), Brookings.
Vicki and her husband Bill have been traveling internationally for many years. To date, they have made five trips to Africa, mostly to South Africa, and have taken numerous photos and short videos.
Vicki became interested in photography when they were living in Australia in 2010 and 2011. She found the Australian wildflowers to be unique and captivating and purchased her first camera while living there. That quickly spiraled into an interest in photographing birds, as she found the birdlife in Australia to be especially colorful and diverse.
Since then, photographing wildlife has been an ongoing passion, with African animals proving to be some of the most challenging and interesting of all their travels, offering abundant photo opportunities as they’ve driven around the continent.
Please join us for this photographic journey into South Africa. In addition, there will be lots of stories about Bill and Vicki’s interactions with wildlife including elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, and lions.
Bring a friend and stay tuned for upcoming talks in our speaker series.
The presentation on June 11 will be the final one before the summer break and will be about the Galapagos Islands. For more information contact the Curry Campus at 541-813-1667.
Apr 9, 2026 | Community, Curry Campus, News
COOS BAY, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College invites the community to join us on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at 6:00 pm, for “The Dynamic Solar Atmosphere” with Dr. Stephen Bradshaw, Professor and Associate Department Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University. This lecture is a free event; all ages are welcome.
Coos County residents can join us in-person in the Umpqua Hall lecture room (room 184) on the Coos Campus, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay.
Curry County residents can join us for a watch party in the Community Room on the Curry Campus, 96082 Lone Ranch Parkway, Brookings.
For those not able to attend in person the lecture will be streamed live on the College’s YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/@southwesternOR/streams.
About the Lecture:
Solar eclipses afforded the first opportunities to observe the sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona (“crown”), set clearly against the background sky, in the absence of the orders-of-magnitude brighter solar disk washing out its radiation. The astronomer George Claridge, writing in 1937, asserted that “Hardly a total eclipse of the sun occurs without some important observations being made which add to our knowledge of the atoms.”
Early discoveries included helium, some 25 years before it was found on Earth, and, in 1869, an observation that has yet to be fully understood to this day: Why, in apparent defiance of the laws of thermodynamics, is the corona a thousand times hotter than the sun’s surface?
Dr. Bradshaw will present some of the historical context to solar coronal physics; the mysteries astrophysicists have wrestled with through the decades; and an overview of our modern understanding of the sun’s atmosphere, reached via a fleet of space-based observatories that have revealed its multiscale properties and spectacular dynamics.
About the Presenter:
Professor Stephen Bradshaw is a faculty member at Rice University in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and serves as Chair of the Undergraduate Program. He completed his M.S. in Physics, with a specialization in Planetary and Space Physics, from Aberystwyth University in 2000 and received his Ph.D. in Solar Astrophysics from University of Cambridge in 2004. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London and a research astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center prior to joining Rice in 2010.
Professor Bradshaw’s research interests are primarily focused on theoretical and computational plasma physics applied to solar and stellar atmospheres, and to fundamental processes in laboratory plasmas relevant to astrophysical contexts. In particular, he investigates the heating of solar/stellar atmospheres where temperatures can reach several million degrees and yet surface temperatures are only a few thousand degrees. The mechanism by which such tremendous temperatures are achieved and maintained remains poorly understood. It is one of the great, unsolved mysteries of astrophysics to this day. His other research interests concern the mechanisms responsible for triggering and driving flares, and the heating and acceleration of solar/stellar winds, which are among the major contributors to space weather.
Professor Bradshaw has published numerous articles, book chapters, conference papers and has spoken all over the world from Beaumont, Texas to Bern, Switzerland. His projects (as PI and Co-I) have received over $10M in funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and he received the prestigious NSF CAREER award. He is the lead project scientist for a mission designed to open a new window on the Sun’s atmosphere in soft X-rays to be proposed to NASA’s mid-sized explorer (MIDEX) opportunity.
For more information about the lecture series contact Dr. Aaron Coyner, Associate Professor, Physics and Engineering at aaron.coyner@socc.edu or 541-888-7244.
For more information on upcoming lectures contact Cassie Coyner, STEAM Pathways Coordinator, at 541-888-7416, or cassie.coyner@socc.edu .
To learn more about STEM degrees at Southwestern visit: https://www.socc.edu/programs-classes/stem/.
Apr 3, 2026 | Community, Curry Campus, News, OCCI News
Coos Bay, OR – The Oregon Coast Culinary Institute (OCCI) at Southwestern Oregon Community College invites the community to our inaugural Oregon Coast Food & Wine Celebration. This is a new community event bringing together exceptional wineries, artisan vendors, and supporters of the culinary arts from across Oregon. This warm and vibrant gathering will take place on July 18th, 2026, at Southwestern Oregon Community College, 1988 Newmark, Ave., Coos Bay, inside the beautiful Umpqua Hall Health & Science Building from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.
This year’s celebration holds special significance. We are honoring the memory of our cherished colleague, Chef Instructor Laura Williams, who passed away last year. Laura was passionate about food, wine, and teaching, and it’s fitting to create an event that brings those passions together. In her honor, this inaugural celebration will serve as a fundraiser to establish a scholarship in Laura’s name, awarded annually to a student attending the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute. Our hope is to continue this event in the future – growing it into a beloved annual tradition that draws guests from up and down the coast.
This is a ticketed event, with each patron receiving sampling tokens upon entry. Guests may use these tokens for food or wine tastings with the option to purchase additional tokens. All proceeds from ticket and token sales will contribute directly to the Laura Williams Memorial Scholarship. Live music, artisan vendors, and a curated selection of Oregon wineries will help create a lively, welcoming atmosphere for attendees to enjoy.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to purchase wine (bottles or cases) directly from participating wineries. A silent auction will offer exciting experiences, fun gifts, and coastal treats going to the highest bidder.
If attendees desire to contribute directly to the Laura Williams Memorial Scholarship there will be a drop box at the event to leave a donation, or they may donate online.
TICKETS & EVENT DETAILS:
- Date/Time: Saturday, July 18, 2026 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
- Location: Umpqua Hall, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay
- Tickets: $35 per person in advance. $40 at the door. Click button below to purchase!
- 21 and older only
- Service Animals only
- Purchase tickets in advance!
Purchase Tickets
DONATE TO LAURA WILLIAMS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP:
If you wish to donate directly to the Laura Williams Memorial Scholarship please click below:
Donate to Laura Williams Memorial Scholarship
VENDOR APPLICATION:
To participate as a vendor, please complete the below form.
Vendor Application Form
For more information or if you have other specific questions regarding the event, please contact Lena Chester at 541-888-7309 or lena.chester@socc.edu.
For information about the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute (OCCI), visit: www.socc.edu/occi
Mar 19, 2026 | Community, Curry Campus
Brookings, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College Curry Campus invites the community to join us on Thursday, April 9, 2026, 1:00 to 2:00 pm for “ORKA in Action: Restoring Oregon’s Kelp Forests.” This is a free program sponsored by the Friends of Curry Campus and will be held in the Community Room on Southwestern’s Curry Campus, 96082 Lone Ranch Parkway (off Highway 101), Brookings. Bring a friend and a brown bag lunch.
In the waters along Oregon’s southern coast, a quiet ecological emergency is unfolding beneath the waves. According to the 2024 Oregon Kelp Forest Status Report, Oregon lost approximately 70% of its kelp forests between 2010 and 2022 — a collapse driven by exploding purple sea urchin populations, ocean warming, and the loss of natural predators. Bull kelp forests that once stretched for miles, sheltering rockfish, feeding gray whales, and anchoring coastal food webs, have largely vanished from reefs where they thrived just a decade ago. The effects reach from the ocean floor to your dinner plate: the wild fish, Dungeness crab, and sea urchins that define Oregon’s coastal economy all depend on healthy kelp ecosystems. If you care about Oregon’s coast, this crisis demands attention.
The Oregon Kelp Alliance (ORKA) is responding with urgency and purpose. Funded through NOAA Fisheries’ Restoration Center, ORKA’s Oregon Kelp Forest Stewardship Initiative has already removed more than 330,000 purple sea urchins from targeted restoration sites and successfully outplanted bull kelp at two of six coastal reefs, including Macklyn Cove here in Brookings — returning life to underwater habitats that had gone dark. Commercial divers, marine scientists, and tribal community partners are working side by side to make this happen. ORKA is also developing restorative kelp mariculture — cultivation of kelp for both habitat recovery and economic opportunity — with support from the Builders Initiative. This dual approach reflects a core belief: that thriving oceans and thriving coastal communities are mutually beneficial goals.
Carolyn McKinnon, the Urchin Control and Dive Safety Coordinator for ORKA will be the presenter for this lecture. ORKA unites diverse stakeholders passionate about kelp forest ecosystems, including commercial urchin divers, marine scientists, resource managers, tribal communities, tour operators, recreational divers, students, culinary professionals, and coastal residents. Carolyn holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from Dalhousie University, with her current work focusing on coordinating volunteer and commercial divers to achieve ORKA’s restoration goals while promoting diver safety. In her free time she enjoys exploring the beautiful coastal hikes, beaches, and communities around Port Orford.
Come join us for this exciting presentation about the ocean in our own backyard.
Stay tuned for upcoming talks in our speaker series. For more information contact the Curry Campus at 541-813-1667.
Mar 18, 2026 | Community, Curry Campus, News
Presented by Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium (OSGC) and SWOCC STEAM Pathways
COOS BAY, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College invites the community to join us on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 2:00 pm, to attend “Blast Off into STEM!”, a free science fair featuring judges from the community and the College. All ages are welcome to view the projects. Student participation is limited to students from grades 4 – 12 within Oregon’s 4th Congressional District.
The fair will be held in the Lakeview Meeting Rooms located in the Hales Center for the Performing Arts/Empire Hall on Southwestern’s Coos Campus, 1988 Newmark Ave, Coos Bay, Oregon.
Student participants can register for the science fair HERE.
[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftt4J9s1aln0Wi4Q-QGqtbvrmoo5rljLOg4PfZg2I05g_n2Q/viewform]
About the Science Fair:
This is the first year of an exciting community event that celebrates curiosity, hands-on learning, and student innovation. This year’s science fair will feature projects from students across Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, including Benton, Coos, Curry, northern Douglas, Lane, and Lincoln counties. Students in grades 4 – 12 will present projects exploring scientific concepts in fields such as biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, engineering, and technology.
Student Participants are encouraged to investigate real-world questions, conduct experiments, explore their curiosity and creativity over several weeks leading up to the showcase.
Attendees will have the opportunity to:
- View interactive exhibits and student demonstrations
- Speak with young scientists about their work
- Celebrate award winners in each grade category
- Engage in hands-on STEM activities provided by teachers and community partners
Attendance at the science fair is open to families, community members, and organizations interested in supporting STEM education and student achievement.
All student participants may receive certificates recognizing their creativity and effort. Additional awards may be provided through in-kind donations such as educational materials, gift cards, or event supplies. Monetary donations cannot be accepted. Those interested in contributing may contact sabrina.pingree@email.socc.edu by May 2, 2026.
For more information contact the event organizers: Cassie Coyner, STEAM Pathways Assistant, at 541-888-7416, or cassie.coyner@socc.edu, and Sabrina Pingree, OSGC Student Ambassador at sabrina.pingree@email.socc.edu.
To learn more about STEM degrees at Southwestern visit: https://www.socc.edu/programs-classes/stem/.
