Oregon Institute of Technology will celebrate commencement at events in Klamath Falls, Wilsonville, and Mukilteo, Washington, on June 17, 18, and 20.
In Klamath Falls, Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read will provide the keynote address at the ceremony on June 17 beginning at 10 a.m. 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.
The Portland-Metro campus will celebrate on June 18 at 11 a.m. with Janelle Bynum, an Oregon House of Representatives member. Oregon Tech Electrical Engineering graduating student Icek Warnecke will provide an address on behalf of students.
Oregon Tech’s Seattle campus ceremony will take place on 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. Mechanical Engineering graduating student Sam Dirton will address students.
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.
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.
State Representative Janelle Bynum is serving her fourth term as the Oregon State Representative for House District 39 (Happy Valley and north Clackamas). In the Legislature, she is chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business/Economic Development and the Joint Committee on Semiconductors co-chair. She also serves as a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee.
In the 2023 session, Bynum led a bipartisan effort to pass Senate Bill 4 to support Oregon's semiconductor and advance manufacturing sectors. The bill allocates $210 million to revitalize Oregon's semiconductor industry, building a foundation for Oregon to grow thousands of jobs through investments in small businesses, housing, childcare, and land availability.
Concurrent with her leadership in public service, Bynum and her husband, Mark, are parents to four children and own four McDonald's restaurants. She serves on the board of Grand Central Bakery, and she has served on the Board of Trustees for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon, Business Oregon, the Center for Women's Leadership, and the Oregon Commission on Black Affairs.
Bynum earned her undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida A&M University and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan—Ross Business School.
Icek Warnecke is graduating from Oregon Tech with a 4.0 GPA and both a bachelor's and master's degree in Electrical Engineering.
Recognized for academic excellence, Warnecke was nominated for the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award in 2022. Throughout his time at Oregon Tech, Warnecke participated in various organizations, including the Oregon Tech Food Pantry, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the prestigious engineering honors society, Tau Beta Pi. Notably, within Oregon Tech's Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers student branch, Warnecke held numerous leadership positions and contributed significantly to the group's success.
Warnecke's dedication to personal growth and academic support is evident from his involvement on campus. Initially working as a student at a welcome desk, Warnecke quickly transitioned to becoming a tutor and, later, a teaching assistant. Warnecke began an internship at Tektronix during his senior year, where he excelled as a Field Programmable Gate Array Designer. Recognizing his talent and contributions, Tektronix extended an offer to continue working with Warnecke following his graduation.
Matt Knighton’s Boeing career began in June 1996. Since then, he has worked as a Liaison Engineer on the 747/767/777 programs and a Stress Engineer on the 777 and 787 programs. His technical career focused primarily on wing structures, emphasizing wing-to-body joins. As a manager, Knighton led various teams on the 777, 787, and at the Everett Delivery Center in Liaison Engineering, Stress, Manufacturing Engineering, and Tool Engineering. As a leader, Knighton has led the 747/767 Production Engineering team, the Everett Site Environment Health and Safety team, and the Everett Delivery Center Engineering team, along with the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Airplane on Ground engineering team.
Knighton received a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from LeTourneau University in Texas. He also has a Composite Structure Design and Analysis certificate from the University of Washington and was a licensed professional engineer with the State of Washington.
Matt and his wife, Julie, live in Granite Falls, Washington. The couple has four grown children who left home without taking their five dogs, two rabbits, a cat, a guinea pig, several fish, and a 21-year-old frog.
Sam Dirton moved to Washington in 1995 from his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, to serve in the United States Army as a 13B E4/Specialist Cannon Crew Member at Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, now called Joint Based Lewis-McChord. After serving, he decided to make Washington his new place of residency. He returned to school, earned his associate degree in Design Drafting at Green River Community College in 2008, and worked as a drafter for a decade.
Joining The Boeing Company in 2008, Dirton worked on the 737 programs in Equipment Installation and Wire Install for 11 years. In 2020, he transitioned to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security Design Center, working as a Technical Designer on multiple programs, including the Presidential Aircraft.
For more information about Oregon Tech’s commencement ceremonies, visit www.oit.edu/registrar/graduate/commencement.
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