10 OregonStater.org OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT VO I C E S Oregon State has experienced a 29-year streak of rising enrollment, but soon we’ll begin to feel the effects of the sharp drop in U.S. birth rates that followed the 2008 financial crisis. What opportunities do you see for OSU even as the traditional college-age population declines? We’ve been very fortunate — though I wouldn’t ascribe it entirely to luck — to have had 29 years of increasing enrollments. But nationwide, we’re already beginning to see enrollment pressures growing, and that’s also true in Oregon. Of course, none of this is a surprise, and there’s been quite a bit of thinking and planning around it. We’ve always been aware that Oregon is a small population state — somewhat over 4 million people — and that there would be demand for our offerings outside our borders. Ecampus has been an extraordinary instrument to serve both people inside and outside the state. So we’ve been thinking a lot about what would make it even more attractive. A FAR-FLUNG FAMILY PRESIDENT JAYATHI MURTHY ON GROWTH, ENGAGEMENT AND THE WORLDWIDE BEAVER COMMUNITY. As told to Scholle McFarland
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