Meet PSU's women of influence

This Women's History Month, we honor the achievements of women throughout history, a legacy we continue at Portland State University by empowering students to break barriers and Be Anything But Ordinary.

Each March, the Portland Business Journal's Women of Influence event celebrates the transformative women shaping our region. This year, we're thrilled to have PSU's President, Dr. Ann Cudd, among the honorees. We're also celebrating three honorees with strong PSU ties: Mayra Arreola, our MPA grad at the Port of Portland; Melinda Avila, CEO at OYEN Emotional Wellness Center and PSU MSW; and Amy Varga of the Varga Group, a former member of our adjunct faculty and Center for Public Service. We're inspired by their impact, knowing their PSU experiences have played a vital role in their success.

Just as they've shaped Portland, our diverse students and graduates are forging their own inspirational legacies and shaping their own high-impact careers. We call them the Future Women of Influence.

Anita Hisatake

Degree: Masters in Early Childhood: Inclusive Education
Graduation Year: MA - Early Childhood: Inclusive Education 2020
Ed.D - Early Childhood Education 2026

How did you pick your major and what are your career aspirations?
I ended up in the early learning field through my volunteer work in my son's Head Start classrooms. It was through this experience that inspired my love for learning in the early childhood education field. PSU provided a space where I could carry this love for learning and creativity and connect it to the work I do now with early childhood educators and advocate for their needs to continue the essential work they do in the classroom now.

How do you plan to make an impact in the Portland community?
I plan to bring my authentic self and my love for the field of work I do. In the ED.D program I’m writing and looking at Pacific Islander representation in early childhood stories through the experiences of a Pasifika educator (me). I wholeheartedly believe that my love for connection, and appreciation for every path I make leads to authentic impacts with communities, programs, and educators I work with. I honor their stories, quests, and experiences and respect the existing traditions within their communities.

Name a Woman of Influence in your own life:
I want to highlight Sara Depinte, she is a dear friend and she inspires me each day with making everyday in the classroom a magical adventure. Her dedication and love for teaching and instructional coaching inspires me to slow down, take in the learning experience, and be in the moment when I am in the classroom.

Dalia Kozina

Degree: Bachelor's in Public Health Studies 
Black Student Union President at PSU
Graduation Year: 2025

How did you pick your major and what are your career aspirations?
I always knew I wanted to go into health care, but it wasn't until this year that I wanted to pursue nursing instead of being a physician's assistant. I one day aspire to be a nurse practitioner and be able to advocate for people from start to finish while I care for them.

How do you plan to make an impact in the Portland community?
Being an advocate for those who are oppressed by health care struggles. Not just in Portland, but where I grew up I watched as groups were oppressed in the health care system. I plan on using my voice to advocate for less health disparities among these groups.

Name a Woman of Influence in your own life:
I can't say that I have one specific Woman of Influence, because so many women have influenced me to reach for the stars and achieve my goals. If I had to choose, I would choose my mom because as a single mother she has fought with all she has to provide for me and pushed me to be the best version of myself.

Elyse Crawford 

In my future clinical work, I aim to promote equitable access to communication — a fundamental aspect of human connection, well-being, and safety.

How do you plan to make an impact in the Portland community?
I hope to make meaningful impact in the Portland community by advocating for accessible communication supports for the local disability community and sharing my lived experiences with service providers. As a disabled advocate, I have firsthand insight into the systemic barriers that exist in healthcare and education. I aim to support others in navigating these challenges while equipping non-disabled clinicians with the knowledge and perspective needed to provide more inclusive care. Additionally, I am committed to supporting current and future disabled and neurodivergent clinicians, fostering greater diversity in our field.

Name a Woman of Influence in your own life:
One of my mentors, Dr. Amy Donaldson, has been a significant influence on me. She is a leader in our field, advancing neurodiversity-affirming care for Autistic individuals, clinical service delivery through a disability-justice lens, and community-based participatory research.

Natalie Violetta Frank 

Working in these labs has allowed me to research topics with wide applications on environmental issues.  In the wind energy lab, I explored the influence of the Coriolis force on a wind farm. In the Dryden Drop tower, I am investigating particle clustering with application to how algae blooms and microplastics move and aggregate in large bodies of water. I hope to continue working in fluid dynamics on topics that work to solve environmental issues. Additionally, I would like to pursue a career in scientific communication and teaching.

How do you plan to make an impact in the Portland Community? 
The long-term vision of my impact in the Portland Community involves the results of my research topics. Investigating the fundamental influences of particle-fluid-wave interactions has greater implications for understanding how algae growth in lakes, or microplastics in the ocean move and cluster. Part of my project involves designing experiments that will be performed on the International Space Station, to understand the role of gravity and capillary effects on the clustering dynamics of these particles. It is a complicated and elaborate subject but I hope to contribute to a piece of that puzzle. The immediate and short-term impact is education. I want others to see that fluid dynamics is an accessible and intuitive subject they can participate in. I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Portland Montessori School to bring engineering and fluid dynamics to K-6 students. In the end, we conducted experiments designed by the K-6 students, studying how the particle shape and wave size influenced the clustering of particles at the surface of a fluid. All students involved attended the American Physical Society conference, where we presented our scientific findings to the fluid dynamics community. This partnership with the Portland Montessori School is important to me because I saw the direct impact that this opportunity had on the students in their confidence as thinkers, speakers, and young scientists. I hope to continue this type of collaboration throughout my lifetime, giving every student the space to build their experience in approaching complex questions and opportunities to share their knowledge and perspective with others.

Name a woman of influence in your own life: 
It is hard to choose just one, I have learned so much from the many women in my life. Their profound lessons have been influential in my day-to-day, personal relationships, and professionally as an engineer. I carry the teachings of those women with me every day. I didn’t get here alone, and to all the women in my life; thank you for being you. 

But I want to give a special shout-out to the woman who was there for me from the beginning and hasn’t left my side, MY MOM. A second-generation immigrant who worked professionally as an engineer for 30 years. She spends her free time active in sports, relaxing with her dogs and hanging with her family. Her engineering technical knowledge surpasses anyone I know. Her dedication to her family is inspiring and heartwarming. I will never forget her enthusiastic cheer from many activities over the years, as it was by far the loudest.

She has always encouraged me to be myself in the face of criticism; to care for others in time of need; to stand strong when times are tough. She taught me how to be a problem solver, lead with confidence and live with understanding. She has been there through all of my doubts, triumphs and lessons-learned with her guiding support. I would be grateful to be half the woman she is. Thank you for your support, love and engineering textbooks!
 

Elle Frazier 

I want to have a career in sports. Whether that be working for a specific athletic team or an organization that values sport and exercise. I would love to hold a leadership position in
the future. A specific position I strive to hold is being a Chief Operating Officer. I believe the skills I possess and will continue to gain and develop align with this role. However, similar to my athletic journey, I am excited to learn and work my way up a position like this.

How do you plan to make an impact in the Portland community?
I will use my athletic background to make an impact in the Portland community. Soccer has shaped me into the confident woman I am today. I have gained so much from past and current coaches and teammates. I want to give back for all that I have gotten. I currently coach young girls for a few different soccer clubs/organizations in the area. In the future I would like to develop and implement my own annual clinic. I would partner with women's soccer teams in the area (Portland State, University of Portland, Thorns, WPSL teams) and have these players lead young girls through drills, training sessions, and Q&As. I want to create an event that inspires young female athletes and show them all that can be accomplished if they put their mind to it.

Who is a women of influence in your life?
A woman I have looked up to from a young age is Alex Morgan. I began watching her play at just five years old and wanted to be just like her. I wore the number 13 for the longest time because of her. She modeled the values of determination, resilience, and self-belief. As I have gotten older I have also looked up to her business and personal life. She is now a retired gold-medalist soccer player and is a mom managing her own company. Her company TOGETHXER is a media and lifestyle company that empowers women and promotes inclusivity in sports. She has shown me what a strong woman who sets her mind to something can achieve.

Marilyn Maldonado Dominguez 

We've made access to basic needs a privilege. Whether in healthcare or education — both worlds that I have a long history with — my career aspiration is to continue to climb and use my knowledge to work for the collective benefit of the people by making foundational changes within our state.

How do you plan to make an impact in the Portland community?
Honestly, I've been reflecting on this a lot. I was born and raised in Oregon but recently moved to Portland for school and now am learning more about the communities, history, and challenges here every day. This city is complex but has untapped potential because of the leaders and people that live here. I want to serve in a role that allows me the privilege to use my abilities to make things easier. Navigating, understanding, and changing the status-quo cannot be done alone -- but working as a team makes it possible. I want policies that reflect the communities' voices and strive to direct my impact to effectively and efficiently apply these voices in my line of work.

Who is a women of influence in your life?
My mother has been the greatest woman of influence in my life. She's smart, loving, resilient, and strong-willed — through childhood to now she has not quit. Having four daughters she always instilled in us the value that no matter what, we think for ourselves, be compassionate, be vocal, and to take up space — even if it led to bickering with her and my dad sometimes! (haha!)