March 2010, Volume 1, Number 3

Sonny's Observations
sonny

Our Statewide Presence

True or False?  The College of Agricultural Sciences is located exclusively in Corvallis, Oregon.

The answer: False.

Whenever people hear of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, they think of our presence in Corvallis.  This is, of course, true.  However, what many, particularly in Portland or Salem or Eugene or other urban areas, do not realize is the statewide footprint our college has through our branch experiment stations and Extension agricultural sciences and natural resources faculty. (Read more...)

townhall

Transforming the College, Town Hall

During February 2010 a series of Town Hall meetings with internal and external stakeholders of the College of Agricultural Sciences were held.  Dean Sonny Ramaswamy was seeking counsel to inform decisions about the future of the College. (Read more...)

  
Our Off-campus Presence

Did you know that 39% of CAS's tenured faculty are located off-campus?

The land grant mission is basic to all Oregonians. It connects university level research, teaching, and extension into a network for all people to access and apply new knowledge. This is a mission of public scholarship based on scientific research on behalf of the public good and driven by the needs of society.

map

It works like this:

The Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station is Oregon’s principal source of knowledge relating to agricultural and food systems, and a major source of knowledge regarding environmental quality, natural resources, life sciences, and rural economies worldwide. It has more than 400 scientists in 28 academic disciplines working across the state.  There are 11 Branch Stations in 15 locations.
The Oregon State University Extension Service connects Oregonians to research-based knowledge through on-the-ground expertise and education. In addition to faculty and specialists stationed in every county of the state, Extension oversees a corps of 20,000 trained Extension volunteers, representing the equivalent of 800 full-time employees in service to Oregon.
Extension faculty work with business people, growers, foresters, and community members. They see first-hand what’s working—and what’s not working—in Oregon’s communities. Extension faculty consult with scientists in the Agricultural Experiment Station where they focus research on real issues important to real people. Results from that research are shared with the community through extension’s outreach and engagement. Knowledge grows, from extension to research and back again.

 history

History of Agricultural Experiment Stations:
The Year of Decision

Just after the turn of the century Oregonians made a choice that changed the state. (Read more...)


 

Here is a sample of the breadth of projects and programs we're working on...

salmonCoastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station:
The Salmon Connection

Farmers, fishermen and researchers on opposite sides of the state have joined forces to understand how to sustain wild salmon. (Read more...)
coarcCentral Oregon Agriculture Research Center:
Research in the Changing Heart of Oregon

Innovation and resourcefulness define the work of OSU's Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center. (Read more...)
 waterColumbia Basin Agricultural Research Center:
Blessed with Soil and Precious Little Water

At the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center, researchers help growers perfect the art and science of dryland agriculture. (Read more...)
 rangeEastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center:
OSU's Home on the Range

Scientists at OSU's Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center help sustain an industry and the land it depends on. (Read more...)
ficFood Innovation Center:
Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center:
Bringing Ideas to Market
OSU's Food Innovation Center helps entrepreneurs cook up new ideas to boost Oregon's economy. (Read more...)
basin

Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center:
Waste Not, Want Not: Reusing Water

Innovative growers are re-using industry’s water in the Umatilla Basin. (Read more...)

onionMalheur Experiment Station:
The Ring of Success

Like the onions grown there, Oregon's Treasure Valley has many layers and a solid core of research. (Read more...)
nurseryNorth Willamette Research and Extension Center:
An Industry Blooms in Portland

Oregon's number one agricultural product flowers in the shadow of the state's largest city. (Read more...)
pearsSouthern Oregon Research and Extension Center:
Oregon Pears

Fighting pests with basic instincts (Read more...)
columbiaUniting the Umatilla
Twenty years of negotiations among tribes and irrigators have created a plan to sustain both salmon and crops, and OSU researchers and graduates help make it happen. (Read more...)
commonsRepairing the Commons
An Oregon-born idea is powered by community involvement. Oregon’s watershed councils were formed in the crucible of environmental conflict. In the early 1990s, the northern spotted owl and coastal coho had been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and farmers, ranchers, and timber companies found themselves glaring through an ugly barbed-wire fence at environmentalists glaring back. (Read more...)
Connections
facebook

Facebook

OSU Agriculture Program at EOU. Bringing Agricultural and Natural Resource Education to Eastern Oregon. (Read more...)

newsletter

Unit Newsletter

The Central Oregon Agriculture Newsletter is published bi-monthly at the Central Oregon Agriculture Research Center. (Read newsletter...)

About OSU
mu

About OSU

Founded in 1868, Oregon State University is a Land Grant campus - one of the "people's colleges," as Abraham Lincoln famously described them -- and over the past 40 years has added Sea Grant, Space Grant and Sun Grant designations. Ivy League stalwart Cornell is the only other U.S. university so recognized.(Read more...)

Research
bay

Why whale tracking matters to Oregon

(The Oregonian) Maybe you're among the thousands who viewed "The Kingdom of the Blue Whale" on the National Geographic Channel. Or perhaps you caught "The Cove," an eco-thriller that uncovers the slaughter of dolphins and was this month nominated for an Academy Award in the documentary category. (Read more...)

cove

Inside The Cove with Prof. Scott Baker

A television interview with OSU Professor Scott Baker about his role in the Oscar-nominated documentary The Cove. (Read more...)

kerkvliet

OSU hunts for dioxin substitutes to fight autoimmune diseases

Scientists at Oregon State University are hunting for substitute chemicals for a toxic dioxin to fight diseases that are triggered by haywire immune systems attacking the body. (Read more...)

hops

OSU gets infusion of hops research money

A Willamette Valley-based hop merchant has given Oregon State University one million dollars for hop research. (Read more in the following publications: Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland Business Journal, Oregon Natural Resource Report and Gazette-Times)

terra

The Range Keepers

(Terra Magazine) "Natural beef" has become a market niche in the cattle industry, and two Oregon ranching families have given it new meaning with help from OSU researchers. (Read more...)

Students
soilteam

Student Life

Who are the students in the College of Agricultural Sciences?  Of the 1415 combined undergraduate and graduate students, about 70% are Oregon residents.  Of this group, 75% join us from more rural areas of the state and twenty five percent of our students are from out-of-state.   The highest numbers of out-of-state students come from California, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, and Arizona.  Five percent of our student population joins us as international students from all over the world.  Fifty six percent of our students are female and 44% are male.  (Read more...)

ffa

OSU to Host State FFA Convention

More than 2400 FFA members, advisors, parents, and guests representing 105 high school agricultural education programs are expected to celebrate the 82nd Oregon FFA State Convention, March 19-22, at Oregon State University. (Read more...)

india

India Internship

Bioresource Research student Gregory Petrossian has returned from a medical internship in India during 2009 with the Child Family Health International (CFHI). Check out his photographs. (Read more...)

boock

Good Vintage

When you think about Gretchen Boock’s background, it’s unsurprising she chose a career in the wine industry. She grew up in Mt. Angel, Oregon, a beautiful, hilly town known for its proximity to some of the most fertile agricultural lands in the state. She spent her summers helping her family tend to their strawberry and broccoli fields, and spent the rest of her free time outside. (Read more...)

Faculty and Staff
bruce

Bruce Sorte, Community Economist

(The Observer) Bruce Sorte has taken on the job of Eastern Oregon community economist through Oregon State University Extension and its Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. While his office is based in La Grande — and he and his wife, Joanne, live in Corvallis — he operates out of a restored 1968 Airstream trailer stabled at the Union Experiment Station on Catherine Creek, and spends much of his time on the road. (Read more...)

blog

Resource for faculty doing program evaluation

Evaluation is An Everyday Activity
A new blog by Molly Engle at Oregon State University
(Read blog)

Alumni and Friends
azelea

Attention Horticulture Alumni: 

The Department of Horticulture is  planning a student, faculty, and alumni gathering on June 4, 2010 at 6:30 pm at our Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture on 35th Street in Corvallis. We very much would like you to join us for a social event and evening meal. Please call or email Lee Ann (541‐737‐3464) [email protected]) if you wish to receive more information as the time draws nearer. There will be a $15 cost per person.

Awards and Honors
carringtonfrei

Two Oregon State University professors receive 'distinguished' title

Oregon State University professors James Carrington and Balz Frei have been recognized as "distinguished professors" for their global contributions in their respective fields. (Read more...)

opa

CASE Award Winners

Congratulations to OSU faculty and staff who won 8 District VIII Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Awards this year! The Department of Extension and Experiment Station Communications (EESC) won 6 of the 9 OSU awards. Special congratulations to Tiffany Woods, who received three awards, including a Grand Gold for her Oregon’s Agricultural Progress story, From Vine to Wine. (Read more...)

CAS Calendar
march

College of Agricultural Sciences Calendar

Art About Agriculture Exhibits
soasey

Collage Art:  Nimble Arrangements for the World of Thought

Through March, Autzen House, 811 SW Jefferson, Corvallis

The exhibit is drawn from the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences permanent collection of Art About Agriculture. According to show curator Shelley Curtis, collages can be traced to the invention of paper in China around 200 B.C., when the technique was used for making multiple-ply paper. (Read more...)

peppers

Chance to Flourish: Private, Public, and Wild Gardens

March 1-30, LaSells Stewart Center, OSU

Thirty-five artists who are represented in the College’s Art About Agriculture permanent collection were invited to submit one recent work of art relevant to the garden theme of the show. (Read more...)

Survey
 

Take our Survey Monkey survey and look for the results in our next newsletter!

Question: What is the most useful course you took at OSU and why?

Take the survey

View archive of previous survey results

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The College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University is Oregon's principal source of knowledge relating to agricultural and food systems, and a major source of knowledge regarding environmental quality, natural resources, life sciences, and rural economies and communities worldwide. The College provides undergraduate and graduate education leading to baccalaureate and graduate degrees, and extended education programs throughout Oregon and beyond. Its research programs create knowledge to solve problems and to build a knowledge base for the future. It is a source of information and expertise in integrating and applying knowledge with benefits that are felt in domestic and international settings.

The College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University is Oregon's principal source of knowledge relating to agricultural and food systems, and a major source of knowledge regarding environmental quality, natural resources, life sciences, and rural economies and communities worldwide. The College provides undergraduate and graduate education leading to baccalaureate and graduate degrees, and extended education programs throughout Oregon and beyond. Its research programs create knowledge to solve problems and to build a knowledge base for the future. It is a source of information and expertise in integrating and applying knowledge with benefits that are felt in domestic and international settings.

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