Mario Magaña Álvarez

Oregon State University

Biographical Abstracts

Mario Magaña Álvarez is a 4-H outreach specialist and an associate professor in the College of Health at Oregon State University (OSU).

He joined OSU in 2000 as the Morrow County 4-H Latino outreach educator and served four counties in that role from 2003-2005. From 2005 to the present, he has served as the 4-H state outreach specialist creating, developing, and implementing after-school positive youth development and enrichment programs for children, youth, and families.

In 2024, Álvarez raised more than $600,000 and brought more than 800 4-H participants to camps and conferences at OSU free of charge. He was the creator of the 4-H Soccer Club, 4-H Mexican Folkloric Dance Club, Outreach Summer Camps, Outreach Leadership Institutes, Jeopardy Game, and the Prepare for College and Score a Goal Soccer Tournament. He also provides support to professional faculty and staff interested in working with underserved populations.

Álvarez was born and raised in Mexico in a family of farmworkers that included seven brothers and seven sisters. At age 7, he started working in agriculture, helping his family. After arriving to the United States at age 20, he became a farmworker for 8 years, earned a GED in 1990, a bachelor’s degree in 1997, and a master’s degree in 1999. He owns a farm and enjoys spending evenings and weekends caring for animals and farming fruits and vegetables with his three daughters, three granddaughters, and his wife.

Areas of Expertise

• Latino(a) outreach programming and research focus on first-generation students going to college and the new Americans coming to the United States
• Helping and preparing children and youth from underserved and underrepresented populations to provide them with the information, skills, and support needed to become self-sufficient and contributing citizens of the United States
• Creating innovative programming, raising funding, and curricular materials for first-generation students going to college
• Supporting professional faculty and staff learning about diverse populations' culture, needs, interests, and problems
• Building partnerships with schools, agencies, organizations, colleges, and departments to bring funding and educational programming to our children, youth, and families in Oregon 4-H