Winter 2011 Newsletter
Winter 2011 Newsletter
Regards to Rural Conference
The Rural Studies Program is a co-sponsor of the upcoming Regards to Rural Conference. The conference will be held Friday and Saturday, June 24-25, with pre-sessions on Thursday, June 23, at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Regards to Rural 2011: Powered by Rural will share practices that work and spark new ideas for strengthening the economic and social vibrancy of rural communities.
Rural Studies Minor
The Rural Studies Program in now offering a graduate minor in Rural Studies. No other university in the United States offers a graduate degree in Rural Studies. Currently offered through campus and field-based experiential education, the graduate minor in Rural Studies is designed to prepare students with the skills and competencies needed to understand economic, social, political and cultural dynamics of rural places. As part of the minor offerings, RSP is now teaching its first course, an Introduction to Rural Studies. Twenty students are taking a multidisciplinary approach to learning about rural issues. Response from students to the minor and class has been overwhelmingly positive.
Oregon Rural Community Information System
The Rural Studies Program website is your one stop home for data on Oregon Communities. The website features the Oregon Rural Community Information System, which consists of the recently launched Oregon Regional Economic Analysis Project along with Oregon County Monitor and the Oregon Rural Communities Explorer.
Publications
RSP Faculty Affiliate Lena Etuk recently published a series of issue briefs on Workforce readiness: Is Your Workforce Ready? : Projected labor supply and demand in Crook County, 2020. Rural Studies Program Issue Brief, No. 3-1; Is Your Workforce Ready? : Projected labor supply and demand in Jefferson County, 2020. Rural Studies Program Issue Brief, No. 3-2; Is Your Workforce Ready? : Projected labor supply and demand in Tillamook County, 2020. Rural Studies Program Issue Brief, No. 3-3.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Lena Etuk also recently published an issue brief on the American Community Survey: The American Community Survey: What it means for you in 2010 and beyond. Rural Studies Program Issue Brief, No. 2.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Brent Steel, along with Christopher Simon and Nicholas P. Lovrich, recently published a book entitled State and Local Government: Sustainability in the 21st Century.
RSP Faculty Affiliates in the News
RSP Director Bruce Weber was recently quoted in an article about rural poverty, based on a presentation he made at Louisiana State University.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Hannah Gosnell was recently quoted in an article about what happens when farm and forest land is protected. The news appeared in several sources including the Western Farmer-Stockman.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Mark Edwards was recently quoted on KTVZ on the high level of food insecurity reported for Oregon.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Bruce Sorte is contributing to the Ripple Blog, an online community of rural voices dedicated to rural life in the Northwest. His posts are also available here. In addition, Bruce publishes a regular column in the Dalles Chronicle and the Lake County Examiner.
Presentations
RSP Faculty Affiliate Hannah Gosnell presented on “Understanding and Enhancing Agricultural Landowners’ Role in Climate Change Mitigation.” at the Agri-Food XVII: Conference of the Australian and New Zealand in Melbourne, Australia.
RSP Faculty Affiliate Hannah Gosnell also presented on “Community Capacity and Collective Management of Riparian Commons” at the North American Regional Meeting of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ.
The Rural Studies Program recently hosted a public seminar by John Pender from USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). John’s talk, entitled “Persistent Poverty Regions in the United States: Problems and Prospects for Rural Wealth Creation” is available here. John is a Senior Economist in the Farm and Rural Household Well-Being Branch, Resource and Rural Economics Division of ERS.
RSP Faculty Affliaitat Bruce Sorte recently presented a real time online course "Valuing Public Services - Nonprofits and Community Organizations: What is your economic contribution?" Over twenty people from around Oregon attended these virtual sessions.
RSP Faculty Affiliate and Western Oregon Community Economist Mallory Rahe presented an Economic Analysis of Douglas County to the Douglas county commissioners.
Other Items of Interest
RSP Faculty Affiliate Lena Etuk is part of a $4.8 million grant recently awarded to faculty at Oregon State University to research and address rural childhood obesity. Read more about this GROW Healthy Kids and Communities effort here.
RSP Faculty Affiliates Lena Etuk and Bruce Sorte were recently recognized by the OSU Extension Service. Lena was awarded the 2010 Vice Provost's Award for Excellence in Innovation and Partnership for her work on the Tillamook Indicator Project and Bruce was awarded the 2010 Alberta Johnson Award for Excellence in Extension Education.
Chuck Hassebrook, Executive Director of the Center for Rural Affairs, will speak at Oregon State University on “Federal Rural Policy that Creates Genuine Opportunity for Rural People and Reduces Poverty.” The talk is scheduled for February 25th at 4 PM at the Ag & Life Sciences Bldg Room 4000.