The Urban Rural Ambassador’s Institute is a collaboration between Eastern Oregon University and Portland State University, in partnership with the National Policy Consensus Center and the Rural Engagement and Vitality Center. In 2024, the class will include one weekend-long residential field trip to La Grande and one weekend-long residential field trip to Portland as well as several online sessions with guest speakers and activities to complement the field outings.

The institute provides students from both schools an opportunity to learn about the commonalities and differences between Oregon’s communities, building a critical framework for understanding the nuances of working across the state’s urban-rural “divide.” Students will participate in panel discussions, attend lectures from diverse elected officials and community leaders, and build relationships with people across the state. Likely topics include: resource access and extraction, land use and food systems, housing and homelessness, and energy and climate change.

Advancing collaboration on urban-rural solutions

The institute will allow tomorrow’s leaders to learn from each other about regional commonalities and differences. Students will develop the capacity to forge a path through the tension and stalemate that often characterize urban-rural debate, and to find solutions that fit local economies, values, and ways of life for the advancement of Oregon as a whole. Likely topics include: Land use and natural resources  Food production/food security, Housing and homelessness, and Environmental impacts

Media about the Urban-Rural Ambassadors Institute 

• Check out this brief film about the program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5_gn6QvRKw
• See a Time Magazine film about the program: Carlisle, Madeline. 2020. How Students in Oregon Are Bridging the Rural and Urban Divide, Time Magazine. https://time.com/collection/apart-not-alone/5809203/bridging-rural-urban-divide/
• See an article about the program: Hughes, Dick. 2019. Urban-Rural Ambassador program bridges the divide. The Other Oregon/A Voice for Rural Oregon. https://www.theotheroregon.com/features/feature_stories/urban-rural-ambassador-program-bridges-the-divide/article_1724715c-246e-11ea-b3f5-9bef5d4dc0e2.html 

Scott Fairley Memorial Scholarship

The Scott Fairley Memorial Scholarship Fund provides tuition for undergraduate students from Eastern Oregon University to participate in the Urban and Rural Ambassadors Summer Institute, a partnership of Portland State University and Eastern Oregon University. Those who worked closely with Fairley knew well his advocacy for eastern Oregon, whether it was through his work as a state employee or his time on the city council. He was known as a collaborator with an uncommon ability to bring people together on divisive issues. He took his positivity, combined with his breadth of knowledge, to bridge discussions in Salem often for the good of communities of Eastern Oregon. The memorial fund is a fitting tribute to a public servant who understood rural and urban issues and served the public across the state.

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