Message from the Director

Hello Friends, Welcome to the School of Forest Resources web page. We trust that you will be able to navigate through the variety of School programs and discover the exact information that attends to your needs. Please keep in mind that we would also appreciate a personal visit from you, either at our University Park campus or any of the other 23 Commonwealth Campuses located throughout Pennsylvania.Our School focuses on the management of forest resources found throughout the world. This vast resource base provides an unending series of products and services required by the citizens of the world - clean air and water, a multitude of wood products, a diversity of fish and wildlife species, places to recreate, beauty and the sense of well-being. Our professional responsibilities are to manage this wealth of resources and to sustain its capabilities on into the future.Central to our School is the training of new professionals to meet the challenges of the future. Toward that end, our Forest Science and Wood Products majors are accredited by professional societies, and our Wildlife and Fisheries Science major permits these graduates to be certified by their professional societies. These standards are important measures of the breadth and quality of our educational programs and the overall services provided to the students within our School. We are equally proud of the substantial number of scholarships and awards available to our students in meeting their educational costs. One of the hallmarks of our School is the array of majors and options, the variety of student clubs and activities, and the broad assembly of people involved in this educational process. We invite your further inspection.

Cheers,
Chuck Strauss

Penn State was founded in 1855 as the Farmers High School and became the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. In 1863, it was designated as the Commonwealth’s sole land-grant institution. The missions of Penn State, the College of Agricultural Sciences, and the School of Forest Resources (SFR) are resident education, research, and outreach. The SFR was established in 1907 as the Department of Forestry at The Pennsylvania State College, four years after the start of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy at Mont Alto. The Penn State program absorbed the State Forest Academy in 1929. A wood products undergraduate curriculum was added in 1941, and a wildlife and fisheries science curriculum was added in 1981. Today, the School proudly continues its three missions of resident education, research, and outreach in Forest Science, Wildlife and Fisheries Science, and Wood Products. The SFR currently consists of 41 faculty members, 30 staff members, 120 graduate students, and 315 undergraduate students.

• Undergraduate baccalaureate degree programs: Forest Science, Wildlife and Fisheries Science, Wood Products (each with minors and options)
• Undergraduate associate degree programs (Forest Technology at Penn State Mont Alto; Wildlife Technology at Penn State DuBois)
• The Forest Science baccalaureate program is accredited and the Forest Technology associate degree program is recognized by the Society of American Foresters
• The Wood Products program is accredited by the Society of Wood Science and Technology
• Graduates of the Wildlife and Fisheries Science program may obtain professional certification from either The Wildlife Society or the American Fisheries Society
• Student to faculty ratio: 10:1
• Undergraduate scholarships: $130,000 per year
• Approximately 75% of our students employed professionally within one year of graduation over the past several years
  

• Graduate degree programs (M.S., Ph.D., M.F.R., M.Ag.): Forest Resources and Wildlife and Fisheries Science (students with a wood products focus receive graduate degrees in Forest Resources)
• Principal interdisciplinary and intercollege graduate degree/option programs and affiliations: Center for Watershed Stewardship, Dickinson Law School, Ecology, Environmental Pollution Control, Genetics, Materials Research Institute, and Plant Pathology
• Extramural research funding: $12 million
• Research is strongly interdisciplinary, with at least 20% through Penn State Institutes of the Environment
• Research focal areas range widely, such as acid deposition effects on regeneration, soils, water resources, and fish and wildlife; timber harvesting impacts on water quality; human-wildlife interactions; fisheries ecology and management; biodiversity conservation; habitat restoration; invasive species; emerging diseases and pests; kiln emissions reduction; timber bridge design; wood adhesion; wood products marketing
  

• Strong statewide focus on cooperative extension dealing with forest resources, water resources, wildlife and fisheries, and wood products. This focus is intended for professionals, landowners, youth, manufacturers, and the citizens of Pennsylvania. Extension faculty work closely with county extension offices and partner agencies to deliver extension education programs
• Professional development: 15-20 programs offered annually, dealing with diverse topics (e.g., GIS/GPS in forestry, forest taxation, wood products, Ibberson Forestry Forum)
• Alumni relations: over 4,000 living alumni from the SFR in 50 states and 21 countries; alumni efforts guided by SFR Alumni Group Board of Directors
• Advisory Board: input/advice to the SFR from professionals and officials from key clientele and stakeholder groups
  

• The SFR manages considerable forestlands (>8,000 acres), which are within easy driving distance of the University Park Campus; these lands are used for resident education, research, and outreach. Most notable of these is the 7,000-acre Stone Valley Forest in northern Huntingdon County
• The SFR moved into a new 95,000-sq.-ft. building in 2006. A development program is underway to raise monies for its construction
• The SFR celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007
  

Dr. Charles Strauss
Professor of Forest Economics & Director
School of Forest Resources
121 Forest Resources Building
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 863-7093
Email: chs3@psu.edu

• School of Forest Resources Building
• Strategic Plan
• Faculty
• Staff
• Academic Programs
• Research Centers, Programs & Institutes
• Arboretum
• Related Links