working for a national think tank.
co-founder of an AIDS awareness campaign at Willamette.
a politics degree holder.
a community activist.

Will Nevius’s leadership experience at Willamette helped him earn a job in Washington, D.C.

Will co-founded Willamette’s chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign.

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IAM

An Advocate for Change

Will Nevius ’09 continued his civic engagement after graduation by heading to the nation’s capitol.

Will Nevius '09 was already a community activist when he came to Willamette, but his college experience further honed his leadership skills.

AIDS awareness was an important cause to him, so, with administrator and faculty support, he and several other students created a new organization to rally their Willamette peers behind the issue.

Following a long line of other student-created initiatives that includes the Bistro coffee shop and the rugby team, Nevius and his peers co-founded a campus chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), a grassroots movement dedicated to ending the pandemic. Nevius served on the organization's national board in Washington, D.C.

Between being a member of Willamette's Council on Diversity and Social Justice and the Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance, Nevius also found time to intern in the state senate majority leader's office.

"As a politics major, it was priceless to have the state Capitol right across the street," Nevius says. "When something exciting was happening at the Capitol — a fun vote or a contentious floor session — it was just a crosswalk away."

After graduation, he headed back to D.C. to work on health care and energy policy with the Center for American Progress — and he credits his Willamette education with helping launch his political career.

"Willamette cultivates an environment where you can really pursue things that you're excited about. People are here with purpose, and that is what I value."

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Learn More

IAM

An Advocate for Change

Will Nevius ’09 continued his civic engagement after graduation by heading to the nation’s capitol.