Paul Gillan Risser
President, 1996-

President Paul G. Risser, 1996.
[OSU Archives P1:110]

On November 2, 1995, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education named Paul G. Risser to succeed John Byrne as President of Oregon State University. He began his OSU presidency in January 1996.

Risser was president and professor of botany at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, from 1993 through 1995. From 1986 until 1992, he served in several administrative positions at the University of New Mexico including Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

A native of Oklahoma, Risser earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Grinnell College in Iowa and a master's degree in botany and Ph.D. in botany and soils from the University of Wisconsin. He was a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1981 and at the University of Illinois from 1981 to 1986.

Risser is an internationally known biologist whose research interests include the structure and function of grassland and forest ecosystems, environmental planning and management, landscape ecology, and global change.

President-Designate Paul G. Risser, 1995.
OSU President John V. Byrne, with back to camera, shakes hands with Paul Risser (center) soon after the Oregon State Board of Higher Education chose Risser as the next OSU President. Joseph Cox, Chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education, is standing on the left. [OSU Archives P195]

Previous President ...
Return to Gallery of the Presidents Entrance
Return to Exhibits Page

Archives Home Page Return to Archives Home Page
Oregon State University
Archives and Records Management Program
Archives@oregonstate.edu
Send an inquiry to the OSU Archives.
http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/archives/exhibits/presidents/risser.html
Last updated: Monday, 11-Aug-2008 13:06:24 PDT