On February 9, we recognized our 2020 Dean’s Award recipients and retirees with an awards ceremony and celebration on Zoom. Since 1990, the Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement have recognized outstanding contributions by our community members that significantly advanced the mission of the College.

For outstanding achievement in Fostering Undergraduate Student Success, Woody Chung, Bogdan Strimbu and Austin Finster were recognized for their herculean efforts to digitize a forest. Due to the pandemic, access to the research forest wasn’t available for the typical capstone experience. Students noted that Woody’s positive, encouraging attitude, Bogdan’s adaptability, and Austin’s dedication all contributed to a great outcome for the term.

Zowie DeLeon from the Dean’s Office was recognized for outstanding achievement in Contributions as a Student Worker. Nominators noted that Zowie was a leader to her office mates and participated in hiring and training fellow student workers.

Two graduate students were recognized for outstanding achievement in Graduate Student Leadership – Katie Nicolato and Skye Greenler. Nominators noted that one of Katie’s greatest strengths is the comprehensive experience she brings to her program and the FERM department, including getting her FAA Remote Pilot Certificate, becoming President for the OSU American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and serving on the WFGRS planning committee. Skye’s nominator wrote that she has established a superb academic and leadership record with us here in the College, including exemplary performance on her qualifying exams. She has shown strong leadership and professional qualities, including service as president of our Student Association for Fire Ecology (SAFE) chapter and on the WFGRS planning committee.

Outstanding achievement in the Mentorship of Graduate Students went to Ashley D’Antonio and Mariapaola Riggio. Students who nominated Dr. D’Antonio noted they value her thoughtful leadership and her commitment to promoting principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) which includes a reading group that relates to issues of DEI in the outdoors. Dr. Riggio’s nominator noted that she is an exceptional role model for each graduate student that she has mentored. They said, “her encouragement of my research and opportunities surrounding it has been a key focus of my experience in the College of Forestry. So much, that I wanted to continue to work with Dr. Riggio as a PhD student.”

Misty Magers was recognized for Outstanding Achievement in Distinction to the College. Nominators noted that she is an exceptional office manager with a deep wisdom about the department, and a seemingly endless capacity to remember details. 

The Pauline Barto Award for Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion went to Adrienne Wonhof. Nominators noted that Adrienne has been the voice to department heads and college leadership to maintain flexibility and create remote working conditions that cultivate inclusive environments. She has ignited a passion within colleagues to strive for equality and diversity.

Retirees Doug Maguire, Mike Bondi, Rakesh Gupta, Jim Johnson, Chal Landgren, and Milo Clauson were recognized for their service to the college. Rakesh served as a Professor in Wood Science and Engineering from 1991 to 2020 and has studied the behavior of wood frame structures under extreme loads (from natural disasters) to the mechanical properties and behavior of wood and wood composites.In 2006, Jim Johnson accepted the Associate Dean position for Extension and Outreach. Jim is most proud of the programs he had a hand in starting, the students he taught and mentored, and the outstanding colleagues he hired. Professor Landgren has served as Extension Christmas Tree Specialist at Oregon State University since 2008, when the position was created by the state legislature. Milo joined WSE in 1987.  His work supported material testing classes, graduate and undergraduate student research programs, and timber engineering faculty.

College of Forestry advisors McKenzie Huber and Autumn Granger have been recognized as the Oregon Academic Advising Association Advisors of the Year for 2020!  Autumn is a first generation college student herself, and understands the importance of having someone to help guide you. McKenzie has her Ed.M. in College Student Services Administration from Oregon State University and has dedicated her career to academic advising.

Our advisors assist students in making the most of their educational opportunity and stay with their students from orientation to graduation. Learn more about our undergraduate degree options and take a virtual tour today!

On Thursday, February 6, we recognized our 2019 Dean’s Award recipients and retirees with an awards ceremony and celebration. Since 1990, the Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement have recognized outstanding contributions by our community members that significantly advanced the mission of the College. 

McKenzie Huber was recognized for outstanding achievement in Fostering Undergraduate Student Success. Students noted that McKenzie “has been a huge part of my continued success at OSU,” and “McKenzie has helped tailor a plan that fits my needs as a non-traditional eCampus student serving on active duty.”

Kellie Cleaver from FERM was awarded for outstanding achievement in Contributions as a Student Worker.  Nominators noted “Kellie is the first to volunteer to help in any way she can, even if it is outside her position,” and “She always has a smile on her face and is a shining light on the dim days.”

Ray Van Court was recognized for outstanding achievement in Graduate Student Leadership. Ray is a first year PhD student with five published peer-reviewed papers and one book chapter. They have three papers currently in review. Nominators noted “Ray is chair of the graduate student council, a member of the Forestry Executive Committee, treasurer for Xi Sigma Pi (the forestry honor society), member of leadership committee for IFSA (international forestry society), and they are also part of the graduate student advisory committee,” and “Ray’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is exceptional and their work on awareness and support makes the community much more inclusive for other graduate students.”

The Pauline Barto Award for Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion went to Shannon Harwood. Nominators said, “As she visits high schools, she delivers a message of empowerment to students from all backgrounds while informing them of the opportunities available to them at OSU and the College of Forestry. These visits occur all over the west coast, in rural and urban settings, and I’ve been surprised by the number of teachers who have reached out to me personally about what a great representative Shannon is for our programs.”

Jed Cappellazzi and Reem Hajjar were recognized for outstanding achievement in the Mentorship of Graduate Students.  Students who nominated Jed noted, “Jed is an excellent resource to consult for in-depth, intellectual, and educational discussions on a variety of topics,” and “his guidance is always relevant, his expectations clear, and he always encourages progressive thinking.” One of the many students who nominated Reem noted “I entered Reem’s class feeling an incredible amount of anxiety about whether I was going to be able to do anything meaningful with my thesis, and left it feeling confident that I could pose and investigate questions that are relevant to me AND the broader scientific community.”

There were four very deserving recipients of this year’s Outstanding Achievement in Distinction to the College. Ari Sinha has been spearheading ground-breaking research on new and existing mass timber products, and translating it into the public domain by providing guidance and data for engineers and architects to use it confidently. Chris Dunn participated on Forest Service Committees and the Governor’s Wildfire Council in 2019.  Members of that Council wrote personally to note that “Chris’s work on helping the committee with data gathering, assessment, and mapping products related to evaluating and responding to wildfire risk in Oregon has been invaluable. His hours of hard work in producing quality products and ability to ensure they are understandable to committee members have been remarkable.” Michael Nagle’s nominator said, “He is the most brilliant graduate student I have had in my 33 years at OSU, and he is keystone to our 4 million dollar project on gene mapping from the National Science Foundation that simply could not succeed without him.” Michael Collins nominators noted, “Michael has assembled and leads a team that has taken college communications to an entirely different level,” and “Michael is unflappable, maintains a sense of humor and perspective, and is a strong leader.”

Retirees Will Roger Admiral, Rob Pabst, Bev Law, and Glenn Folkert were recognized for their service to the college. Glenn joined the College in 1990 as a scientific buyer. If a product existed, he could find it, buy it and get it delivered in or out of the U.S. for the lowest price and fastest delivery.  In Rogers 23+ years with the college, he was on the project team for the construction of Richardson Hall, has centralized and/or supervised Communications and Marketing, Forestry Computing, the Media Center and the Student Learning Center, and has provided financial and administrative consultation to five deans and interim deans. Rob has spent the past 34 years with the college working first on ecology of woody plants, then riparian forest ecology, and then forest modeling with the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study and the Forests-People-Fire Project.  Bev has served the State of Oregon and Oregon State University for 23 years in Biogeosciences, specializing in forest ecosystem response to climate and disturbance. Thank you for your service and contributions and all the best in retirement!