OSU Extension’s educational programming and activities center around seven major focus areas. Within each area, our network of diverse educators and researchers provide practical, research-based information, engage learners, and collaborate with partners and volunteers in communities across Oregon to support and sustain healthier individuals and families, thriving ecosystems, and growing economies.

4-H Youth Development

Director: Cathy Haas

4-H provides young people with intentional, high quality learning experiences that promote positive interactions with adults and peers, sustained and active participation across time, and opportunities to make meaningful contributions to the world around them.

4-H is the largest out-of-school youth program in the United States. There are more than 6 million 4-H members nationwide, and thousands of young people participate in Oregon 4-H each year. Because 4-H uses an active, learn-by-doing approach, young people see how their actions make a difference in the lives of others and the world around them.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Program Leader: Sam Angima

Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension helps grow Oregon’s economy, keep family farms vibrant, strengthen ecosystems, and support safe and sustainable food and water systems.

Our programs and expertise include Small Farms Program, Master Gardener, agricultural technology, crops, environmental quality, food processing, livestock, pollinator health, wildlife, and more.

Family and Community Health

Program Leader: Allison Myers

Every day our Family and Community Health team is working to achieve the College of Health's vision of lifelong health and well-being for individuals, families and communities throughout Oregon.

We partner in communities to promote healthy nutrition, food safety and security, physical activity, mental/behavioral health and well-being, emergency preparedness, community resilience, and more. Our faculty and staff offer an expanded set of public health and human sciences programs spanning individual-level education and policy, systems, and environmental approaches.

Forestry and Natural Resources

Program Leader: Holly Ober

Forestry and Natural Resources Extension brings scientific knowledge and expertise to our communities, ensuring our forests are resilient and continue to provide the wide array of benefits that Oregonians treasure—now and always.

Our programs and expertise include Tree Schools, Citizen Fire Academy, Master Woodland Manager, Oregon Naturalist, Women Owning Woodlands, Ties to the Land, forest health, forest management, logging and selling timber, non-timber forest products, and more.

OSU Open Campus, Juntos and Native American and Tribal programs

Open Campus Director: Emily Henry
Juntos Director: Gina Galaviz-Yap
Native American and Tribal Programs Director: Angie Morrill

OSU Open Campus, a community-based education partnership convened by Oregon State University, provides local access to learning in order to address the unique educational needs of Oregon’s communities.

Through a statewide network of Open Campus education coordinators, working in partnership with community colleges, regional economic development groups, the K-12 education systems, business community and local government, the university is delivering education to underserved and place-bound Oregonians.

Our focus areas include college and career readiness, degree completion, economic and community development, and the Juntos and Native American and Tribal programs.

OSU KidSpirit

Director: Karen Swanger

Since 1961, KidSpirit has provided young people ages 2 to 18 with intentional, high-quality, equitable learning activities and camps on OSU's Corvallis campus. KidSpirit's goal is to improve health and wellness through mental, physical, emotional and artistic development. We help youth develop "thriving" characteristics through non-competitive, recreational and educational activities.

The KidSpirit curriculum is created and delivered by high school and college student staff engaged in an experiential professional development program designed to help them enter the workplace as leaders.

Outdoor School

Director: Spirit Brooks

Outdoor School is a transformative, immersive experience that instills environmental literacy and positive learning behaviors in students. It also encourages a belief that Oregon is a special place, with ecosystems they can enjoy and protect. The OSU Extension Service is a trusted partner with the state and with local school districts for administering Outdoor School.

As entrusted by voters, directed by Oregon law, and with input from an advisory committee, we provide fiscal, programmatic, and administrative responsibility for the program, which currently serves Oregon 5th and 6th grade students. We work in collaboration with school districts, partners, and communities to support and grow the statewide Outdoor School program, building on a legacy that began in 1966.

Sea Grant

Program Leader: Jessi Kershner

Oregon Sea Grant serves the state, region and nation through an integrated program of research, outreach, and education that helps people understand, rationally use and conserve marine and coastal resources. Based at Oregon State University and working with scientists, scholars and communities statewide, we're part of the national network of NOAA Sea Grant College Programs.

Outreach and public engagement are integrated into everything Sea Grant does. They are the tools we use to ensure that our work is not only relevant to society, but directly connected with it.

Our programs and expertise include earthquake and tsunami preparedness, sustainable fisheries, seafood product innovation, aquatic invasive species, environmental literacy, and more.