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Western Rural Development Center reaching out to a surprising audience By
Reuben Wadsworth
Surprisingly, the states with the highest rural proportion are in the Northeast and the states with the lowest rural proportion are in the West, the director of the Western Rural Development Center told faculty of the USU College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Tuesday in the department conference room. The WRDC is a U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded program that works with university personnel, policy makers, elected officials and other community leaders in identifying issues that concern rural regions of the West and in organizing projects that respond to those issues. Its offices are on the USU campus. Director Steven Daniels said the WRDC's "niche" should be a natural resource focus. If the governor has a meeting on any issue concerned with rural development, he said the WRDC wants to be there. The WRDC would like to be an integral part of the land grant university system, involved in political debate and have a central role in creating regional project teams, Daniels explained. The WRDC would like to be a partner in helping university faculty build multi-state projects and have a "foot outside the university," Daniels said. "I really believe this is an outreach notion," he said. "I ought to have a killer Rolodex." Daniels said the WRDC themes for 2000-01 include: •1. Enhancing the ability of community leaders to convene community-based
discussions that contribute to the local vision In his position with the WRDC, Daniels said he is on the road three weeks a month visiting university extensions to find out what issues they are dealing with. He also makes site visits to universities around the West and has regular speaking engagements. "There always seems to be some place to go," he said. For further information on the WRDC, contact Daniels or his assistant, Brenda Palmer, at 797-9732.
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