Alumnus offers gift for new forestry program
Endowment of $3.6 million allows for new options in OSU's College of Forestry
Susie Bafico
Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: News
An OSU and College of Forestry alumnus, Richard Strachan, has donated $3.6 million to endow a faculty position and a new OSU undergraduate degree, according to OSU's news and communications service.
The faculty position will support forest management research and will be called the Richard Strachan Chair in Forest Operations Management.
It will provide knowledge and supply graduates that will help the Pacific Northwest forest sector compete in the international marketplace and maintain forestland profitability, an OSU news release said.
The chair-holder's research will complement a recently approved forest operations management degree, which includes a minor from the College of Business.
The new degree will blend forestry, new technology, business and entrepreneurship.
Experts say the new Bachelor of Science program is unique to Oregon. The chair and degree program will be housed in the Department of Forest Engineering.
Steve Tesch, head of the department of forest engineering, said in the news release that the establishment of the chair and new degree is timely because the forestry sector responds to the increasing global competition with new approaches to managing forest operations in Oregon and the rest of the United States.
Strachan graduated from OSU in 1978 with a forestry management degree.
He currently lives in the San Juan Islands of Washington and is the director of Miami Corporation.
"This gift is a challenge to my peers to do more and better things for the college that is so important to us, the state and the nation," Strachan said in the release.
He also said that he hopes the occupant of the chair will make consistent contributions to professional and technical knowledge that benefit the state and forest products industry.
The Dean of the College of Forestry, Hal Salwasser, said that Strachan's gift represents "a tremendous vote of confidence" in the college. A vote of confidence in Salwasser was conducted in June after a high profile flap that started when news broke that a group of professors in the college tried but failed to delay a controversial study's publication in the print version of the journal Science.
"(The Strachan Chair) demonstrates that the college is taking major strides forward in its pursuit of excellence," Salwasser said.
Over the last 25 years Strachan has spearheaded a series of major gifts to the College of Forestry. He said he made this gift as a public statement of support for the College of Forestry, the faculty and Salwasser.
The faculty position will support forest management research and will be called the Richard Strachan Chair in Forest Operations Management.
It will provide knowledge and supply graduates that will help the Pacific Northwest forest sector compete in the international marketplace and maintain forestland profitability, an OSU news release said.
The chair-holder's research will complement a recently approved forest operations management degree, which includes a minor from the College of Business.
The new degree will blend forestry, new technology, business and entrepreneurship.
Experts say the new Bachelor of Science program is unique to Oregon. The chair and degree program will be housed in the Department of Forest Engineering.
Steve Tesch, head of the department of forest engineering, said in the news release that the establishment of the chair and new degree is timely because the forestry sector responds to the increasing global competition with new approaches to managing forest operations in Oregon and the rest of the United States.
Strachan graduated from OSU in 1978 with a forestry management degree.
He currently lives in the San Juan Islands of Washington and is the director of Miami Corporation.
"This gift is a challenge to my peers to do more and better things for the college that is so important to us, the state and the nation," Strachan said in the release.
He also said that he hopes the occupant of the chair will make consistent contributions to professional and technical knowledge that benefit the state and forest products industry.
The Dean of the College of Forestry, Hal Salwasser, said that Strachan's gift represents "a tremendous vote of confidence" in the college. A vote of confidence in Salwasser was conducted in June after a high profile flap that started when news broke that a group of professors in the college tried but failed to delay a controversial study's publication in the print version of the journal Science.
"(The Strachan Chair) demonstrates that the college is taking major strides forward in its pursuit of excellence," Salwasser said.
Over the last 25 years Strachan has spearheaded a series of major gifts to the College of Forestry. He said he made this gift as a public statement of support for the College of Forestry, the faculty and Salwasser.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
CARL YEE
posted 10/06/06 @ 2:55 PM PST
Another big feather in FE's cap. As a retired forest ops prof and OSU FE alum, I can say that this will help make OSU the leader in this specialty also. (Continued…)
Post a Comment
Comments by registered users are approved by default.