Academics
ANNOUNCING GRADUATE MINOR IN RURAL STUDIES - STARTING FALL 2010. Please see Catalog Listing for more detail or email rsp@oregonstate.edu with questons.
The Rural Studies Program is a multidisciplinary effort involving faculty from several colleges and departments at Oregon State University.
The following courses are some that will be used towards the Graduate Minor in Rural Studies, the Rural Policy Concentration in the MPP and for the upcoming graduate certificate.
ANTH 581 - Natural Resources and Community Values [3 credits]
Investigates relations between human communities and the values of community members. Resource issues integrate concepts from social science, economics, and ecology. PREREQ: 3 credits of social science.
ANTH 582 - World Food & Culture Implications of Intl Ag Dev [3 credits]
Examines the ideological and theoretical bases of world assistance programs and their effects on different sectors and classes, including women. Causes of world hunger in terms of agronomic, mainstream economic and radical economic paradigms are developed and contrasted. PREREQ: Senior standing.
ANTH 584 - Wealth and Poverty [3 credits]
Summarizes the distribution of wealth observed cross-culturally and through time. Determines the relation between wealth distribution and economic productivity. Shows the impact of industrialization and economic wealth distribution in Western civilization and cross-culturally. Evaluates how cultural practices affect wealth distribution in Western and non-Western societies. PREREQ: 3 credits of social science.
AREC 554 - Rural Development Economics and Policy [3 credits]
Theories of economic change in developed and less-developed economies; natural resource sectors and the development of rural regions, with emphasis on growth, diversification, and instability; resource mobility and the spatial aspects of development; poverty and inequality; rural development policy. PREREQ: AREC 300 or AREC 311. Offered alternate years.
FOR 564 - Private Forests in Society [3 credits]
Examines private forests as components of social systems and ecosystems. All categories of private forests will be considered, but the focus will be on nonindustrial private forests. Students will develop an understanding of private forests, their owners, and current social, economic, and policy issues surrounding these forests.
GEO 520 - Geography of Resource Use [3 credits]
Functional concepts of resources, institutions affecting resource use, role of resources; resource supply, bases of controversy. Field trip(s) may be required; transportation fee charged. PREREQ: 9 credits of upper-division geography.
GEO 523 - Land Use [3 credits]
Development of a conceptual framework for land use study; analysis of land as a resource, land use trends in the U.S., land use principles, and management issues as related to planning.
GEO 552 - Principles and Practices of Rural and Resource Planning [3 credits]
Principles, techniques, and current practices of land use planning for rural areas. Emphasis on resource issues, organization of data, policy development, and decision-making. PREREQ: GEO 423/523.
HDFS 547 - Families and Poverty [3 credits] 
Examines families in poverty focusing on causes and consequences of family poverty, including global economic factors, migration patterns, discrimination, and policies and programs for families.
SNR 511 - Sustainable Natural Resource Development [1 credit]
Using readings, class discussions, and field trips, we introduce the program sessions and pedogogical methods, familiarize students with basic working definitions of sustainability, and build capacity to work as as group on a common project.
SNR 520 - Social Sustainable Natural Resources [3 credits]
Using readings, personal experiences, and class discussions, students explore five principles of socially sustainable forestry, and review the role they play in creating forest-based sustainable communities.
SNR 521 - Economics of Sustainable Natural Resource Management [3 credits]
Focuses on the sources of market failure, the means of correcting market failure, and the real-world examples of making progress toward sustainable resource use by means of market mechanisms.
SNR 522 - Basic Beliefs and Ethics in Natural Resources [1 credit]
Examines the basic philosophies and ethical systems in American forestry, including Pinchot's agricultural approach and Leopold's biotic forestry, and compares them to contemporary public attitudes and considers their implications for sustainability.
SOC 499/599 - Rural Communities and Demography [3 credits]
This course will explore the conceptual and quantitative dimensions of rurality in America, focusing on the contemporary demographic, cultural, economic, ecological, and social psychological planes on which rural policy has been conceived and evaluated. Class time will be devoted to both practical and theoretical pursuits, including instruction in applied demographic research methods such as mapping and spatial analysis and discussion of the broader sociological trends influencing rural communities.
SOC/GEO 507 - Contemporary Rural Issues Seminar [1 credit]
This weekly seminar series will focus on issues, research, programs, and policies, confronting rural Oregon. Weekly lecturers will be drawn from the OSU community and beyond, including public policy makers, rural stakeholders, and non-profit organizations. Students will be expected to attend 9 of the 10 lectures.
SOC 560 - Comparative Societies [3 credits]
Comparative study of societies, with major emphasis upon societies of the non-Western world. Focus upon factors shaping social structure, patterns of change, and mutual influences among societies. PREREQ: SOC 204.
SOC 566 - International Development-Gender Issues [3 credits]
Examines roles and statuses of women and men throughout the world and differential impact of development on men and women. Evaluates traditional development policies and programs and discusses theories of gender stratification and of modernization. PREREQ: SOC 204.
SOC 575 - Rural-Urban Sociology [3 credits]
Views social life along the rural-urban continuum. Differences and similarities in social behavior, organization and ecology will be covered. Influence of urban ideas on smaller communities will be explored. Worldwide focus. PREREQ: SOC 204.
SOC 581 - Society and Natural esources [3 credits]
Explores the complex interrelationships between humans and natural resources, emphasizing how management decisions and organizations are enmeshed in social and cultural contexts.PREREQ: SOC 204.
SOC 585 - Consensus and Natural Resources [3 credits]
Students will use a working group approach. They will select a natural resource topic, study the team process and interaction as a method of learning, explore the issue using systems practice, and strive for consensus on solutions to their issue.
Not all courses listed are offered every year.