UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Harry V. Wiant Jr. has been named the first recipient of the newly endowed Joseph E. Ibberson Chair in forest resources management in the School of Forest Resources.

Wiant has been professor of forestry for 24 years at West Virginia University, where he received a bachelor's degree in forest management. He earned a master's degree in silviculture from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in forest ecology from Yale University.

The chair's purpose is to educate students and to continue leadership in the professional management of private forest resources. Charles Strauss, director of the School of Forest Resources, notes that Wiant is a recent past president of the Society of American Foresters and expects him to "carry the emblem of professional forestry at Penn State."

"Harry has a tremendous depth of experience in forestry education, from the redwood region of northern California to the pineywoods of east Texas and the hardwoods forests of Appalachia, as well as in the tropical forests of Honduras and Eucalyptus forests of Australia. His research, published in over 200 professional publications, deals mostly with forest ecology and timber inventory. Harry has wide experience as a forestry consultant and expert witness. He has a keen desire to organize courses that will emphasize promoting good forestry on private lands and the operation of forestry consulting businesses," says Strauss. "In fact, he is now organizing a new text on consulting forestry, which will fill an existing void in our educational tools."

Wiant will fill the Ibberson chair for a three-year term, with subsequent five-year terms possible. He will teach three courses per year emphasizing consulting forestry and the principles of integrated forest resources management.

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Contact: Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-865-1068 fax #219