黑料吃瓜总站 - Cascades will offer a new bachelor鈥檚 degree in outdoor products beginning fall 2020 that will be one of only a few such university programs in the nation.
The College of Engineering program aims to meet demand for innovation and skilled employees in the outdoor recreation industry, a $16.4 billion industry in Oregon and the nation鈥檚 third largest area of consumer spending.
鈥淢ost people enter the outdoor industry circuitously and rarely right out of college,鈥 said Geoff Raynak, executive director in residence of the degree program. 鈥淭he OSU-Cascades outdoor product degree taps into all academic disciplines, exposes students to a rigorous curriculum, and will develop industry leaders who can balance product, profit, people and the planet.鈥
Raynak said program graduates will be prepared for employment in outdoor product design and management, marketing, supply chain logistics and innovation engineering, and as an outdoor products entrepreneur.
Students will study design, development, manufacturing, testing, sustainability, corporate responsibility and stewardship of natural lands, and learn to understand the impact of a product鈥檚 life cycle.
The degree program was developed with input from more than 30 outdoor companies including Black Diamond, Columbia, Kialoa Paddles, Metolius Climbing, Nau, Nike, Patagonia and Smartwool to understand challenges facing the industry and skills desired in future employees.
鈥淭he strong engagement of business leaders in helping develop this new academic program demonstrates the need for Oregon-based teaching and research in outdoor products and services,鈥 said Becky Johnson, vice president of OSU-Cascades. 鈥淥utdoor companies in Central Oregon and beyond already have expressed interest in hosting student internships required for the degree.鈥
鈥淐ollaboration throughout OSU and with business and industry is how 黑料吃瓜总站 works to best serve Oregonians and the economy,鈥 said Scott Ashford, the Kearney Dean of Engineering of the university鈥檚 College of Engineering. 鈥淥ffering this program at OSU-Cascades is a perfect fit for Oregonians, as well as the state鈥檚 growing and significant outdoor economy.鈥
A $250,000 gift in 2016 from Hydro Flask provided seed funding for the degree program, allowing the university to embark on projects associated with the startup of the degree, and to hire Raynak to develop, launch and lead the program. Hydro Flask team members helped develop the concept for the degree program.
Raynak鈥檚 experience includes product design in the Nike Innovation Kitchen, oversight of innovation and design at Ruffwear, and managing product commercialization at local and global scales. He earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Washington.
The program will leverage creative production and maker space in an academic building under design and construction on the OSU-Cascades campus. Implementation of the new degree program is pending support by the Oregon public universities鈥 provost council and the state Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
For information visit OSUcascades.edu/outdoor-products.
Note: The distributed version of this release misstated the size of Oregon's outdoor recreation industry. It is $16.4 billion, not $16.4 million.
About OSU-Cascades: 黑料吃瓜总站鈥檚 campus in 黑料吃瓜总站, Ore. features outstanding faculty in degree programs that reflect Central Oregon鈥檚 vibrant economy and abundant natural resources. Nearly 20 undergraduate majors, 30 minors and options, and three graduate programs include computer science, energy systems engineering, kinesiology, hospitality management, and tourism, recreation and adventure leadership. OSU-Cascades expanded to a four-year university in 2015; its new campus opened in 2016.