The Barometer Online

Issue date: 2/13/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Contributed Photo Patrick Proden, the new head of Multnomah and Washington County Extension Services hopes to divide and conquer by combining resources from far reaching parts of East and West counties.

Former Peace Corps volunteer Patrick Proden is OSU's new head of Extension Services in Multnomah and Washington counties.

OSU's Extension Service aims to connect the university with local communities to share research-based knowledge and education to provide a better future for Oregonians.

"This came up as a unique opportunity where I could use the experience in my back pocket," Proden said of the position aimed at providing necessary tools and resources to help a diverse population work together to succeed.

One of Proden's primary aims is to find ways to collaborate the efforts of the Extension Service's programs.

"You have people who are very much spread out working on a lot of different programs with very little infrastructure," he said. His goal is to create both division and continuity by leveraging the work being done and getting people to come together.

The majority of Proden's experience working with people at the grassroots level stems from the six years he spent in the Peace Corps, first as a volunteer in Nigeria after graduating from the University of Wisconsin and years later as a country director in Tanzania. Proden worked with more than 100 volunteers and managed 32 staff members.

His duties included managing a $3 million annual budget that supported programs for education, health, HIV/AIDS and the environment.

Extension Services has programs focused on 4-H youth development, family and community development, gardening, agriculture, forestry, watersheds, marine sciences and environment, with individual projects in each program area.

"I think it's all in an effort to work with diverse population groups who wouldn't usually be served," Proden said.

While working toward his master's degree in education through a Peace Corps fellows programs at Townson University in Maryland, Proden taught elementary and high school kids at two inner-city schools in Baltimore.

Before he left for Tanzania, he was teaching native Alaskans in an Eskimo village in Goodnews Bay.

As the 4-H development program's administrator in Washington and Multnomah counties, Proden's work affects children once again. The program, aimed toward youth from the ages of 5 to 19, guides children to "prepare themselves for economic and social success as adults while making positive contributions to their communities" by teaching them about animals, computers, public speaking, cooking, art, gardening and environmental sciences, according to the program's website.

The experiences Proden has gained from his chosen career path came without a master plan, with one thing just leading to another.

"It's all in an effort to make the world a better place," Proden said.

Taryn Luna, senior reporter

news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231

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