College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Forestry

MSU Forestry was a wonderful launch pad for a journey I could never have imagined back in 1981.  Grateful to attend a university where I could combine forestry with Ag/NR communications (another love), I moved to Oregon for an internship at the (then) Western Forestry Center and found the natural environment and mountains stuck on me like glue. 

My career has been a fluky blend of community development (“human dimensions”) and forestry — weaving between career moves such as public affairs with Oregon Dept. of Forestry, forestry-based economic development with coastal First Nations in Canada, 4-H in an Oregon timber town, community forestry research in Thailand, capacity-building with community-based watershed councils, and serving as a socio-economics Extension Specialist in Canada.  Along the way I got hooked on the field of Program Evaluation (having been unceasingly asked by funders over years to demonstrate program impacts) and launched a PhD at the Univ. of British Columbia Forestry emphasizing Evaluation Capacity Building (yes, there is such a field).  I consulted in program evaluation for natural resource orgs and gave my oath to the Queen to become a Canadian citizen (now dual).  I have now circled back where I started — Oregon Dept. of Forestry — where I manage a non-profit Trust supporting recreation and interpretation. Looking back at my career, by far I have learned the most from Native colleagues and community members who have helped me see the world through new eyes.

Hi from Salem, OR to all my classmates!