Southern Oregon University SBDC is closing

A recent email from the SOU SBDC announcing their closure:

Honoring the Legacy: The People Behind the SOU SBDC
Authors: The SOU SBDC and Market Research Institute Team

Over four decades, the Southern Oregon University Small Business Development Center was shaped not by buildings or budgets, but by people, by the steady hands and open hearts that carried its mission forward. As the Center prepares to close its doors, it feels right to pause and honor the individuals whose leadership and service defined its legacy.

Elizabeth Shelby was the Center’s first Director and, in many ways, its architect. With a vision that blended professionalism and compassion, Liz built the foundation on which all future success would rest. She made the SBDC a place of trust, a bridge between university resources and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Rogue Valley. Her belief that education and enterprise could uplift a community became the Center’s guiding principle, one that has endured ever since.

Jack Vitacco, who followed Liz, brought renewed vitality and focus. Arriving at a pivotal time, he helped the Center reassert its place in the network and the community. Under his leadership, the SBDC found its rhythm again, rooted in practical wisdom, fueled by enthusiasm, and sustained by respect for every small business dreamer who walked through its doors. Jack’s steady optimism and deep understanding of business gave new life to the program, and his belief in mentorship left an indelible mark on everyone he worked with.

When Marshall Doak took the reins in 2017, the SBDC was healthy, and he saw what it could become. A seasoned advisor with both humility and humor, Marshall expanded the Center’s reach, launching statewide initiatives like the Market Research Institute and transforming the Small Business Management program into a model of excellence. His leadership through turbulent times, including the pandemic, revealed the heart of a true servant-leader, calm in crisis, generous with time, and unwaveringly committed to helping others succeed. As colleagues fondly recall, even the sound of sunflower seeds cracking at his desk became part of the rhythm of work, a small reminder of focus, patience, and persistence.

The story of the SOU SBDC is not written by directors alone. It is also the story of the staff and advisors, a team of professionals whose expertise and empathy helped thousands of entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of business ownership. Their combined knowledge ranged from finance and operations to education, strategy, and innovation. They have been mentors, confidants, teachers, and problem-solvers, sometimes all in a single conversation.

To each of them, past and present — THANK YOU!

• Thank you for answering the phone when someone called in panic.
• Thank you for staying late to polish a business plan.
• Thank you for believing that every small business deserves a chance to thrive.

As we reflect on this moment, not as an ending, but as the culmination of something remarkable, we see the thread that connects Liz, Jack, Marshall, and the many staff who stood beside them. It is a thread woven of service, integrity, and community.

The Center’s lights may soon go out, but the glow of its work will remain in the shops that opened, the jobs that endured, and the people who still believe that with guidance and grit, small ideas can become great realities.

And so, as we honor those who built the foundation, we now turn to those who carried the vision forward – the entrepreneurs, innovators, and dreamers who took that guidance and transformed it into thriving businesses. Their stories are the living proof of what this Center stood for, each success, each milestone, each act of resilience is part of the same enduring legacy, the belief that possibility lives in every person with the courage to begin.

A Swan Song to Part Ways With

The term “Swan Song” has changed meaning over time. It began in Ancient Greece, born of the belief that a swan, silent throughout its life, would sing a beautiful song just before it died. In truth, swans do not sing; the legend is only a myth. Yet the idea endures, a final act of grace, a moment that gathers a lifetime’s quiet work into one last expression of beauty.

This, then, is our own swan song.

The Southern Oregon University Small Business Development Center (SOU SBDC) will close at the end of December 2025, following the University’s declaration of financial exigency this past August. After 41 years of service to the Rogue Valley, our program will come to an end. The decision follows deep and difficult cuts across the institution, programs, majors, and people. Ours was one of them.

Over four decades, we have walked beside more than 11,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses, quietly helping dreams take root. Many of today’s leading companies in the Valley can trace part of their story to a moment spent here, an idea refined, a plan written, a risk made possible. The collective impact of those efforts has been extraordinary, hundreds of millions of dollars in economic growth, thousands of jobs, and a legacy of ingenuity that continues to shape the region’s prosperity.

For me personally, it has been an honor beyond measure to work alongside colleagues who give so freely of their time, skill, and compassion, people who believe in the power of small business not just to build economies, but to build lives. The true reward has been witnessing the courage, creativity, and resilience of those we have served.

And so, as we close this chapter, we do so with gratitude, not grief.

To our clients, partners, and community, thank you for trusting us with your aspirations. Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your story. Though the SOU SBDC will no longer stand as a place, its spirit will live on in every entrepreneur who dares, in every idea that takes flight, and in every person who believes that growth begins with guidance and faith.

From all of us at the SOU SBDC—

• May your work continue to thrive.
• May your courage never waver.
• And may you always find music, even in the quiet moments before change.

Every ending, after all, carries the echo of a beginning.