Paul G. Risser

Paul Gillan Risser (September 14, 1939 – July 10, 2014) was an American ecologist and academic from Oklahoma. He served as president of Miami University and Oregon State University before becoming chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education. He grew up there, graduating from Blackwell High School. After graduating with a bachelor's degree from Iowa's Grinnell College in biology in 1961, he then enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. At Wisconsin he earned a masters in botany in 1965 followed by a PhD. in 1967 in botany and soils. At Oregon State he oversaw construction of the CH2M-Hill Alumni Center, Halsell Hall, and Richardson Hall, as well as an expansion in enrollment and The Valley Library.

Later life and death In 2006, he left the chancellor's office. He then served as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's acting director and the executive director of EDGE, Oklahoma's economic development agency. He was survived by his wife, four sons and two step-daughters.