Roger Rennekamp serves as Professor, Department Head, and State 4-H Program Leader in the College of Education at Oregon State University. In that role, Roger provides administrative leadership to a statewide youth development program that reaches 150,000 through approximately 120 paid staff and 5000 volunteers. As both an administrator and academic leader, Roger oversees the day-to-day conduct of 4-H youth development practice in the State of Oregon and coordinates the academic and scholarly activities of faculty members who have appointments in the Department of Youth Development Education. The State 4-H Program Leader is also expected to facilitate and maintain relationships both within and external to Oregon State University that expand the overall outreach and engagement activities of the University.

Roger oversees an annual budget of more than $4.7 million and provides programmatic oversight to a state 4-H Foundation with $5 million in endowments and annual revenues of approximately $2.5 million.Throughout his career, Roger has been a strong advocate for enhancing the professional status of youth work through professional development and scholarship. Roger recently served as co-chair of the National 4-H Professional Development Task Force and is a past chair of the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents’ Professional Improvement Committee. He has also served as President of the Kentucky Association of Extension 4-H Agents. His research interests are in the area of youth engagement and community youth development.

Prior to coming to Oregon in 2005, Roger held the rank of Professor in the Department of Community and Leadership Development at the University of Kentucky. His duties within the Department included serving as evaluation specialist for the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. As an evaluation specialist he served as evaluator for several major Extension programs and conducted evaluation training for county Extension agents. He also provided oversight for all of the organization’s planning and accountability activities. He is a past chair of the Extension Education Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association.

In the podcast Dr. Rennekamp and Chester Bateman discuss the work of Oregon 4-H and efforts in helping youth today be our leaders in communities of tomorrow.

Podcast related links:

Oregon 4-H
Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) in Oregon 4-H
Bernard Harris , NASA astronaut, physician, and entrepreneur
Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp Blog 2008
National 4-H Council & SET

Podcaster: Chester Bateman