May 1st – Marion County Extension Service: Richard Riggs, Regional Director
Richard Riggs is the Western Regional Director (RD) for Oregon State University’s Extension Service. As RD he directs 88 faculty and staff who provide Extension programming to more than one million Oregonians
within the Willamette Valley.
Recently, Rich served as a nontenured instructor at Western Oregon University, teaching a class focused on combat veterans and their families as both groups struggle with Post Traumatic Distress Disorder and moral injuries that impact their daily lives.
Rich is an OSU alum and earned his Juris Doctorate from Willamette University College of Law after retiring from the Navy. Rich and his spouse live in Salem, are proud parents,
grandparents, and dog owners; and enjoy travelling, camping and
vacationing with their many friends.
Program Chair: David Deckelmann
Meeting Location: Willamette Heritage Center – Dye House
Oregon State University Extension Service: Vital to our Survival
Greetings, Fellow Rotarians!
I appreciate you all so much! THANK YOU for prioritizing last week’s meeting – it was fabulous that we had a full room of Rotarians to welcome our incredible musicians from North Salem’s String Chamber Orchestra. What a performance! Special thanks to Program Chair Karl Raschkes for making that possible!
This week we will pivot to a different topic as we welcome Richard Riggs, OSU Extension Service Regional Director for Linn, Benton, Lane, Marion, Polk and Yamhill Counties. As part of a dynamic, globally-respected university engaged in cutting-edge research, the Extension Service provides the mechanism to easily share the latest discoveries with our diverse local agricultural leaders, ensuring the success of their hard work. The unique synergy between accessible scientific education, research and direct support of our food supply is absolutely vital to our survival. This link between education, food security and national security was acknowledged as early as 1862 by President Lincoln and supported by successive Congressional Acts that gave life to the land-grant university system, of which OSU is a part.
https://communications.oregonstate.edu/land/osu150-land-grant-festival/about-land-grant
If all of those nerdy nuggets aren’t tantalizing enough to tempt you to our lunch on Wednesday, then certainly Richard’s delightful personality will! He is a wonderful leader and it will be great to hear from him! Special thanks to Past President David Deckelman for putting this together.
See you Wednesday!
Yours in Rotary Service,
Kindly,
