Life On the Job
Honoring Our Emergency Responder Alumni
We offer a tribute to Chris Kilcullen ’95 (psychology, sociology), a police officer with the Eugene Police Department who died in the line of duty on April 21, 2011.
Officer Kilcullen was shot and killed when making a traffic stop. He was remembered by thousands of community members and first responders from all over the Northwest in a memorial service at Matthew Knight Arena on April 29. Watch videos of the memorial.
In his memory—and in memory of the first responders who lost their lives ten years ago on 9/11—we offer here profiles of just a few of the hundreds of CAS alumni who have gone on to serve their communities as sworn officers, firefighters and other emergency responders whose own safety is on the line every day. Thank you for your service.
Tracy Ballew, City of Portland, Police Officer
Richard Gaines, City of Bellevue, Retired Fire Lieutenant
Matt Herbert, City of Eugene, Police Officer
Brett Keller, Oregon State Trooper
Andrew Schneider, City of Stockton, Firefighter, Paramedic
Police Officer, City of Portland
Class of ’86, Psychology
What drew her into public safety and service: After selling mutual funds for seven years I learned I was allergic to working in an office. I needed something that got me outside with a high level of variety. An officer I got to know took me on a ride-along and I was hooked.
Meaningful career experiences: Being able to bring a voice of reason into situations where no one is acting reasonably. I also find value in bringing compassionate help to the vulnerable in our community who need our compassion the most.
This photo (see above) was taken by a three-year-old. She had just seen her daddy get arrested for fighting with her mommy. When I went to take photos of her mommy’s bleeding knee, the little girl helped hold up her mom’s pajama leg so I could get a good photo. She then turned to me and said, “I want to take a photo of heck.” Thus began a very fulfilling career.
I meet amazing people, young and old. This is one of the reasons I love my job even after seventeen-and-a-half years.
UO influence: My psychology major and biology minor help me on a regular basis. I deal with the mentally ill every day. Working with cadavers in my anatomy labs helped prepare me for some of the less pleasant parts of my job.
Fire Lieutenant (Retired), City of Bellevue (Washington)
Class of ’69, General Social Science
What drew him into public safety and service: A bad economy and good luck. I was the project manager for a construction company in the late 1970s. When a proposed project was to be postponed for a year, I jokingly asked a subcontractor if he was hiring and one of his employees said the fire department was. I figured “what the heck.” Thus began a very fulfilling career.
Meaningful career experiences: My career was exciting at times, sad at times, inspiring at times and always challenging. I remember asking a firefighter before I was hired what he liked about his work. He simply said the instant gratification of making a difference. It didn’t take long to realize your company is called because someone is in trouble and they need your help. More often than not you provide it and that is very gratifying. But my best experience was with the people I worked with: bright, vital, engaging, creative and innovative . . . wonderful folks.
UO influence: The UO gave me a broader perspective and the ability to step back and appreciate other viewpoints. It taught me to be open to learning and take advantage of opportunities that the service offered. This “student-firefighter” attitude culminated in my being assigned as the assistant to the training coordinator my last five years before retiring. One of the duties I treasured most was running our department’s recruit academy. Another was a complete rewrite of our training manual. I am convinced that my university experience was a big contributor to what success I may have had. And to imagine that I did it in the heart of Husky territory! GO Ducks!
Police Officer, City of Eugene
Class of ’90, Sociology
What drew him into public safety and service: A lot of my high school friends planned to study business in college, but I wanted a career of public service of some kind. A high school friend joined the Eugene Police Explorer Post. (Explorers are affiliated with the Boy Scouts.) When she told me about it, I became interested and joined. One of the main activities was to accompany on-duty patrol officers on ride-alongs. For an eighteen-year-old, at the peak of testosterone production, I could not believe people were paid to do this kind of work.
Meaningful career experiences: Many of my most “memorable” experiences are certainly not the highlights of my career. The murder of Officer Chris Kilcullen and the accidental death earlier this year of Sergeant Jerry Webber (also EPD) are two recent events that stand out. I work in the Violent Crimes Unit and have been exposed to a fair bit of death and mayhem, but nothing prepares you for the death of a comrade. On the positive side, I take great satisfaction from working on cases with good outcomes. Bad guys go to prison and victims feel they received some justice. It happens once in a while.
UO influence: The most beneficial part of my experience at the UO was the extensive reading and writing required of students. The paperwork and report writing in police work is voluminous and the ability to communicate clearly is essential. Many otherwise capable people are not hired or are soon terminated because they cannot write well enough.
Trooper, Oregon State Police
Class of ’96, Psychology
What drew him into public safety and service: After graduating from the UO I thought about going for an MBA, but I wanted a job where I felt like I was helping the community. Reflecting on my prior experience in the Army, serving as a police officer was the career that I felt would help me accomplish this.
Meaningful career experiences: My career highlight has been making the bomb team and completing the training to be a certified bomb technician. It is a unique and challenging position and very satisfying knowing the help we provide to other agencies and the general public. The greatest part of it is the people that I work with on the team.
Another highlight has been working with another agency in California where we tracked a sixteen-year-old girl with a form of autism who had been chatting over the Internet with a man from the Portland area, and he went to California to pick her up. We were able to track her through her text messages and eventually spotted the car she was in and arrested the man. It was great being a part of an operation that probably saved a young girl’s life.
UO influence: I majored in psychology and this prepared me to work with and deal with people, also how to identify certain behaviors and how to talk with people with those behaviors. I was also in ROTC, and this taught me about leadership, duty, honor, integrity and selfless service—attributes that anybody in law enforcement must possess.
Firefighter and Paramedic, City of Stockton (California)
Class of ’00, Political Science
What drew him into public safety and service: My father was a San Francisco fireman of thirty years. I didn’t know it at the time, but firehouse culture was ingrained in me from a very early age.
Meaningful career experiences: We respond to all sorts of emergencies: vehicle accidents, childbirth, gunshot victims (twenty-three homicides in Stockton so far this year), assaults, stabbings and all brands of medical calls. We are also trained to look out for each other—to pull each other out of collapsed structures and rescue lost firefighters in burning buildings. I see the ugliest characteristics of society on one call and on the next the brightest moments of humanitarianism. That is what I love about my job. But somewhere along the line we have gone from being viewed as heroes to being called “hogs at the trough,” blamed for bankrupting cities and mistrusted in our own communities. My job has always given me a window into people’s lives during their greatest moments of vulnerability, yet the manner in which we are being received by those same folks has drastically changed.
UO influence: My political science degree has always assisted me with critical thinking, decision making, study habits and test taking, but now it is most put to use within my firefighter’s union. Public speaking, education and campaigning have become the norm for the modern- day firefighter. I never used my degree as much as I have in the last three years. And I never thought it would be used to defend the integrity and honor of the men and women who place themselves in harm’s way for their communities.
Interviews by Eric Tucker
Watch 
Watch excerpts from the opera, coming soon to Eugene. 
Three’s a charm for a living memorial.