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CORVALLIS - Mill closings, water-right battles, urban sprawl, development pressures, rising hunger and poverty rates - today, every rural community faces a unique set of complex economic challenges.

Oregon State University has taken what leaders say is an important step in addressing these problems, announcing a new professorship and launching a $1 million fund-raising drive.

Professor JunJie Wu has been named the first holder of the Emery Castle Professorship in Resource and Rural Economics, a newly-endowed position that will provide additional resources to study rural issues.

"This is for the people of Oregon and for Oregon State University," said OSU Professor Emeritus Emery Castle, who initiated the effort to establish the professorship. "It will help address some of the broader issues in rural Oregon that have typically not been studied."

In the short-term, Wu will use the funding from the endowment to sponsor a symposium and a seminar series to discuss important challenges facing rural communities.

In the long-term, he plans to work with colleagues to create a top resource and rural economics program at OSU to help Oregon communities adapt to changing economic times.

"As the initial holder of the Castle professorship, I will devote my energy to research, education and outreach programs that help us better understand the issues facing rural communities and develop better strategies to address those issues," said Wu.

The appointment of Wu marks the halfway point in a $2 million fund-raising effort inspired by Castle, a leading authority in rural and resource economics. Castle had a 53-year career at OSU and served on state and national policy and research boards. This includes a 10-year stint as vice president and then president of Resources for the Future, the Washington D.C. think-tank on issues dealing with natural resources and the environment.

Supporters, including many of Castle's former students and colleagues, have helped raise nearly $1 million, enabling the start of the professorship, but more funds need to be raised to create a fully-endowed chair.

"The professorship has allowed OSU to retain a world-class scholar who will create and catalyze efforts to achieve a deeper understanding of the economic challenges confronting rural Oregon," said Bill Boggess, head of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. "Fully endowing the position will help anchor and leverage the university's commitment to assisting rural communities over the long haul."

In the past 30 years, there has been a deepening economic divide between rural and more urban communities in the United States. Nationwide, unemployment is 10 percent higher, and poverty 28 percent higher, in rural areas than in urban and suburban areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

Rural Oregon, which historically has relied on natural resource-based industries including farming, fishing and forestry, has been hit particularly hard by the changing economy. Starting in the 1970s, resource industries began to decline due in part to changes in technology, global markets and demographics as well as new state and federal natural resource policies. Over a 30-year period, while the rest of the nation saw incomes rising 30 percent, earnings per job increased only 20 percent in Oregon, and in the state's rural areas, earnings per job actually declined.

While many areas face major economic challenges, it is important not to generalize about rural areas even within Oregon, Wu pointed out.

"There are a lot of variations among rural communities, and every community faces different issues," he said. "In Eastern Oregon, people may be concerned for their economic future, health care, and educational opportunities for their children. In Western Oregon, people may be more concerned about urbanization and the loss or fragmentation of farmland."

In addition to establishing the chair, OSU is working to address the complex challenges confronting rural communities through the Sustainable Rural Communities Initiative, which was recently selected as one of six priority programs for funding under the university's strategic plan. Though this initiative, OSU is creating a statewide interdisplinary program involving faculty from five colleges to help improve the environmental, economic, social and cultural well-being of Oregon's rural communities.