Focus: Spring 2023

More than ever, we need creative solutions for today’s pressing environmental and social challenges. As the world’s population and associated demand for resources grows exponentially, we must seek new ways to meet the needs of society in harmony with the natural world.

The College of Forestry is driving those solutions forward. We are changing the way the world utilizes and nurtures forests, harvests timber, manufactures innovative wood products and combats climate change. Our research is providing the scientific basis for changing laws and policies that govern forest management, building codes and safety practices.

And we’re doing this work with an emphasis on inclusivity and interdisciplinary collaboration. Learn more by browsing this issue's stories below.

Spring 2023 Focus Stories

College News and Notes

SHOW UP FOR COF ON DAM PROUD DAY
Once a year, Beavers from around the globe come together for Dam Proud Day, an annual 24-hour online fundraising event dedicated to building a better, stronger, more influential Oregon State University.

Funding gathered during this event directly supports College of Forestry students, who have the highest reliance on self-help loans when paying for tuition and basic needs while at OSU. This year’s Dam Proud Day will be on April 26, 2023. During the event, you will have the ability to give directly to College of Forestry scholarships.

A donation to the College of Forestry will help our students afford a world-renowned education. Your gift will ensure they graduate with the skills and knowledge necessary to improve our forests, ecosystems and communities.

For more information about Dam Proud Day and how to donate to the College of Forestry, please visit osufoundation.org.

IN MEMORIAM

Larry Giustina, ’71, was not only a close friend and advocate of the College of Forestry, but a true embodiment of its mission to advance sustainable solutions in forest management. A life-long Oregonian, he was deeply committed to his family, community, the state of Oregon and Oregon State University. He died this past summer at age 73. Today, he lives on through his incredible legacy defined by service, integrity and generosity.

An OSU College of Business alumnus, Larry was managing general partner of the multi-generational, family-owned Giustina Land and Timber Company, based in Eugene, Oregon. Once an OSU Beaver golf team member, he was also the managing partner of the Eugene Tokatee Golf Course, established by his father, and active on the Corvallis Trysting Tree Golf Club board.

Larry’s service to OSU was extraordinary, spanning more than 30 consecutive years on many leadership boards. He served as President of the OSU Alumni Association, the OSU Foundation Board of Trustees from 1993-2008 and as a member of The Beaver Club/Beaver Athletic Scholarship Fund. He was the founding chair of the College of Forestry board of visitors and, in 2017, he received the Lifetime Trustee Award, the OSU Foundation’s highest honor.

Larry and his wife, Carolyn Keen Giustina, ’71, generously supported endowed professorships in turf management (College of Agricultural Sciences) and forest management that honor his parents, Nat, ’41, and Jacqueline Giustina, in addition to providing other gifts to the College of Forestry.

“Larry was an early champion of sustainable forest stewardship and had a lasting, positive impact on the lives and land he touched throughout his career,” said Tom DeLuca, dean of the College of Forestry. “He had a way of connecting on a deep level with everyone he met, and his leadership, generosity and integrity ought to serve as inspiration for us all.”

To learn more about Larry’s legacy, watch his Lifetime Trustee video.

Mike Newton
October 24, 1932 – August 30, 2022

Mike Newton was a faculty member at Oregon State for forty years. During that time he conducted extensive research on the use of herbicides to control weeds in a wide array of forest settings, with the ultimate aim of determining the ideal environment for reforestation initiatives.

Over the course of his OSU career, Newton led significant investigations into competition between trees, shrubs and weeds in areas of differing rainfall and soil type. He also oversaw a major program in silviculture, with specific focus on the response of trees to different managed competition environments.

Newton retired from OSU in 1999, but remained very active as a scholar and mentor. Over the course of his career, Newton supervised 66 graduate students, hailing from 11 different countries.

To learn more about Newton’s career and his contributions to the College of Forestry, please visit the Oregon State Oral History Project.

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