A retirement open house for longtime faculty member Richard Rathge is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the McGovern Alumni Center Atrium. A special program begins at 4:30 p.m.

For 32 years, Rathge was a sociology professor and a demographer and director of the North Dakota State Data Center at NDSU. He also was a policy analyst for the North Dakota Kids Count program.

As a demographer, Rathge’s research focused on documenting shifting population movement in the Great Plains in general and North Dakota in particular. His most recent efforts focused on examining the current and future demand for housing and exploring labor force issues such as the downward shift in the entry-level labor pool and the emerging elderly labor market. 

The New Mexico native earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of New Mexico and a doctorate from Michigan State University.

Rathge and his wife, Polly Fassinger, plan to move to the Twin Cities area. Fassinger has accepted the position of director of institutional research at Macalester College, St. Paul.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.