The Barometer Online

Issue date: 6/2/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Katy Weaver Frank Ragulsky, Director of Student Media at OSU, spoke at his going away party last Tuesday in the MU Lounge. Ragulsky taught and mentored students for 27 years.

By Katy Weaver

The Daily Barometer

It's 7 a.m. in Corvallis and most likely overcast. Most students are still asleep, waiting for their alarms to go off before their first classes. Frank Ragulsky is already sitting in his office at work.

He might be smiling.

"For the last 20-some years, I can't wait to get to work every single day," Ragulsky, who has been Oregon State's Director of Student Media since the beginning of 1982, said.

That would make this his 27th year at OSU. To the disbelief of students and faculty, it's also his last.

Ragulsky's job has allowed him to act as more of an advisor than a director to the students involved with the various media organizations at OSU. His hands-off approach to the media lets him help students learn through independent experience, trusting themselves in a world in which journalism is constantly evolving

"Frank has been a source of wisdom and encouragement behind the scenes for student media and for me as a student," said Lauren Dillard, managing editor of The Daily Barometer and a senior in new media communications.

Besides helping students, Ragulsky interacts with various staff and faculty at OSU and does outreach through special programs such as PeaceJam.

But it's the student body that keeps him coming to work every day.

"What keeps me motivated is when students come back and say 'Thank you - you made a difference in my life, I've become successful because I've had this wonderful experience at OSU,'" Ragulsky said.

Ragulsky was inspired to become a teacher and advisor by one of his professors at the University of Southern Colorado. He believes having a good mentor can make a difference in a student's college career because connections between a student and his or her university exist less and less these days.

"I think students are struggling more these days financially than we had to struggle when we were in college," Ragulsky said, looking back on his own generation. "Colleges have changed; no longer are the days when everyone went to the basketball or football game. College students are less connected to college. It's like going to the pizza store - you get it and you're gone."

Continued...

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