Charles F. Sams III, director of the National Park Service, will be visiting Oregon State University on April 25 at 7 p.m. as a guest lecturer.
Sams will be giving the lecture in Room 117 at the George W. Peavy Forest Science Center, which will also be streamed online. Registration is required to attend virtually or in person.
The event is a part of the Governor Tom McCall Memorial Lectureship in Public Affairs, which was created in 1982 by the OSU College of Liberal Arts to honor the memory of Oregon Gov. Tom McCall.
The lectureship is meant to promote public service, journalism and environmental protection. Almost every year, a public figure comes to talk about an issue that is important to them for the lectureship according to Catherine Bolzendahl, director of the School of Public Policy, who will also be hosting the talk.
According to Bolzendahl, while there is no specific title for Sams’s lecture, Sams’s visit to OSU is a part of a larger tour done as a part of National Parks Week.
With Sams’s work in nonprofit resource conservation, stewardship and land preservation, Bolzendahl expects the lecture to be along these themes, along with his role as the director of the NPS.
“The national parks are something that are really beloved by all Americans and actually people all over the world. Every year thousands and thousands of people come from other countries to see our fantastic national parks,” Bolzendahl said. “I think it’s going to be a real treat to just kind of hear from his perspective as the leader of that, you know, where things stand and where they’re going.”
According to Bolzendahl, the lectures have seen popularity in the past with last year’s lecture reaching 200 in-person attendees and a similar number online for a lecture given by Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist. This year the lecture is in a room that can hold around 120 people.
“Every year we have speakers who are really, you know, an important part of our political process and have great insights to share with us that I think people have enjoyed engaging with,” Bolzendahl said.
