Amid the hundreds of University of Oregon students who were taking a class from professor Cathleen Leué, Jonathan Wu was just another student in the mix.

“The class was pretty large, so I wasn’t able to talk to her during that time,” Wu said. “I decided to go to her office hours one time, though, just to tell her that I really loved the class, and we ended up talking for over an hour and a half just about everything about the university, the future of online education and things like that.”

That office visit was the start of a mentee relationship that Wu had with Leué. She would advise him on everything, from choosing a major to life in general.

Their relationship abruptly ended in June, when Leué passed away at age 56.

Wu was in Taiwan for the summer and didn’t find out about her passing until the first week of school.

“She always made time for me, even when I dropped by unannounced. That’s not something that I think a lot of students can say about their professors,” Wu said. “I always went to her for advice, and she opened my eyes to a lot of things.”

Leué also helped Wu receive the Mary E. Russell Scholarship, which helped Wu focus less on paying the bills and more on academics.

“She made a very real-world impact on me,” Wu said.

Wu wants to return the favor by helping spread the word to get a $20,000 scholarship in her name as one UO students can apply for.

“I want that scholarship to become a reality so that it can help people just like Leué did,” Wu said. “I want people to see that through that scholarship, she had an impact on campus.”

Along with the scholarship, Wu is also looking to name the Social Science Instructional Labs after her, which is a group of labs Leué founded, dedicated to helping faculty and staff become better acquainted with software technology. But according to Wu, naming the SSIL after her has been difficult. Garron Hale, associate director of the College of Arts & Sciences Information Technology Support Services, agrees that naming the labs has proven to be difficult.

“I think it’s a good idea, but I know getting a building or lab named after someone is a trivial process and it takes quite a bit of time,” Hale said. Hale has taken over the director position at CASIT ever since Leué, who was the founder of CASIT, passed away.

“Having worked with her every day for about 15 years we were good friends and shared the ups and downs of running two IT departments,” Hale said. “She was very proud of what we created together.”

Whether it comes in the form of a scholarship, a lab or in some other way, Wu just wants to make sure Leué isn’t forgotten on campus.

“The way she treated and helped me reflect on how I would treat others also,” Wu said. “She helped me to become a better person.”