InsideESF The Magazine of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 1911 CENTENNIAL ISSUE 2011 Inside: The Beginning Academics Leaders Student Life Research Campus The Ranger School ESF Timeline Centennial Campaign Did You Know…? A Message from the President We have established research programs on all seven continents with 57 research projects outside the United States. ESF faculty members are working in the Ross Sea, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Greenland, China and the Galapagos. ESF draws from the world, too. We help educate graduate students from 35 countries and we have hosted professional executives and governmental officials from India, China and Germany with whom we trade our knowledge. Our success has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, Forbes.com and the Sierra Club. Demand for our programs is rising as our applica- tions increase; in turn, our offerings to our students expand in both academics and the area of student life, where our rich partner- ship with Syracuse University provides an array of activities for our students to choose among. Our College’s Centennial is a truly remark- It’s gratifying to look at where we’ve been able occasion. It combines our natural appre- and what we’ve accomplished. But it’s just ciation for round numbers and numbers of as important to look ahead. We can’t know We celebrate significance — 100 is probably one of our where we are going unless we know where favorites — with our desire to stop and look we have been. back at where we’ve been and reflect on In the next century, ESF will lead the the past — where we are headed. development of the lignocellulosic-fuel In a physical sense, ESF has always been integrated biorefinery, find solutions to help right here. The College was established in mitigate climate change and use chemical but embrace 1911 with classes in Syracuse University’s ecology as a tool to protect our forests from Lyman Hall, just a few hundred yards from invasive species. ESF will strive to mitigate our existing campus. But from the very the loss of global ecosystem biodiversity the future beginning, the College had a broader reach, and learn more about how the environment with research and educational programs affects human health. We will devise new that extended far beyond the borders of our ways to protect our water resources and growing campus on the hill. teach sustainable practices in all aspects of The vision of the College’s founders and life. In New York state particularly, ESF will early leaders — brilliant minds such as be the focal point of the new green economy Syracuse University Chancellor James R. Day, with a strong focus on the application of Syracuse attorney Louis Marshall and former renewable energy. Governor and President Theodore Roosevelt — In short, ESF will continue to be the most established an institution that has had an distinguished institution in the United States extraordinary impact on the world in its first that deals with environmental and natural 100 years. resource issues. And without a doubt, ESF We have had a faculty member honored will continue to serve some of the most by the president of Finland for his contribu- passionate and dedicated young people in the tions to the pulp and paper industry; another United States. received the Kyoto Prize for his work on living Please join me in celebrating not only the polymers. An alumnus received the National completion of our first century of envi- Medal of Technology for his work in safe- ronmental leadership, but the start of our guarding the health of children worldwide; second, as well. another is instrumental in helping restore the environment after Hurricane Katrina. Cornelius B. Murphy, Jr. Contents InsideESF SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 2 Growing Up Green Cornelius B. Murphy, Jr., President An environmental focus has played an important role in ESF’s history. Robert C. French, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing 6 Logical Progression From its academic roots in forestry the College has evolved to meet Office of Communications the needs of society. 122 Bray Hall 315-470-6644 www.esf.edu/communications 10 Hail to the Chiefs Editor College deans and presidents have provided guidance and left their Claire B. Dunn mark on ESF. Art Director Wendy P. Osborne 12 It’s a Wonderful (Student) Life Students have created their own unique lifestyle at ESF. Staff Writer Karen B. Moore 18 Global Reach Production Coordinator Vance M. Blackburn Research at ESF extends well beyond the walls of the campus laboratories. Office Staff Peggy Olrich 22 Tour de Campus Contributing Editors A variety of architectural styles reflect the changing times and Tom Boll priorities of the College. Mark Murphy Contributing Writers 30 ‘Mystique’ in Wanakena George S. Bain The Ranger School approaches its Centennial with a new academic Joleene D. Des Rosiers program in place and old-fashioned hard work still in the lesson plan. Paul J. Kocak Margaret McCormick Carri Prue 34 Moments in Time Special Assistance The Onondaga Historical Association provides a linear look at Flora Nyland, ESF College Archivist ESF’s history. 42 Centennial: A Celebration and a Campaign Historic photos were obtained from the Terence J. Hoverter College Archives in Moon Library. Photos The 100-year mark provides an occasion to reflect on the past and prepare for the future. taken since the 1990s were obtained from the files of the ESF Office of Communications. 48 100 for 100 InsideESF is produced by the Office of Communications of Take a look at some fun facts, figures and photos to celebrate ESF’s the State University of New York College of Environmental first 100 years. Science and Forestry. www.esf.edu 53 True to Their School ESF’s diverse alumni have one thing in common: loyalty to their College. Centennial Issue 2011 1 100 Years of Growth From a basement on the SU campus, ESF matures into an environmental leader By Margaret McCormick century ago, a degree from the New You’ve come a long way, ESF! York State College of Forestry at Careers in landscape architecture, ecolog- A Syracuse University could lead to ical engineering and natural resources man- a job as a scientist, naturalist, manager of agement are considered “hot,” and ESF, one private or public land, or a long, rewarding of the country’s first “green schools,’’ is career with the U.S. Forest Service. enjoying a building boom and swelling of Today, a degree from the State University its student ranks. of New York College of Environmental Sci- “Climate change, global warming, renewable ence and Forestry in Syracuse could lead to energy … there are so many environmental a job in green technology, e-waste recycling, issues at the forefront at the moment,’’ said urban food systems development, natural Richard S. Hawks, chair of the Department of resources management, ecological engineer- Landscape Architecture and himself a 1972 ing, landscape architecture, forest conserva- ESF graduate. “I think that’s what’s fueling tion and preservation… the interest here.’’ The list goes on. In photo above, students carry a load of supplies into the new Bray Hall upon the building’s completion in 1917. The building gave the College its permanent home and the students helped 2 Centennial Issue 2011 move the furniture and equipment from Lyman Hall on the Syracuse University campus. In May 1914, this was the view looking west from Mount Olympus during groundbreaking operations for the first building on the College campus. At left is 1925 Dr. Hugh Potter Baker. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Environment By the end of 1912, Baker had boosted the 1. the act of environing faculty to nine and the College had acquired 2. that which environs; 1,800 acres of forested land in Wanakena, in the the surrounding conditions, Adirondacks, to establish a Ranger School. It also influences, or forces. purchased 90 acres near the southern edge of Forestry Syracuse to serve as an outdoor classroom. 1. Forest land; forest. The College was starting to make its mark in 2. The science and art of Syracuse and beyond. farming, caring for, or “The College of Forestry distinguished itself cultivating forests. from other forestry institutions very early on by having education programs that ranged from ‘technician’ at The Ranger School to Ph.D. at the Syracuse (University) campus,’’ said Dr. Ross S. Whaley, who served as ESF president from 1984 to 1999. “That is, its earliest focus ranged from field practitioners to scientists.’’ Baker guided the school’s inaugural research One hundred years ago this year, the New York project, partnering with the U.S. Forest Service College of Forestry took root in a thicket of weeds, in an industry study designed to scrub and brush west of Syracuse University’s show what kinds of companies were Mount Olympus. The College had two classrooms using wood in New York state, what in the basement of SU’s Lyman Hall, a dean, two kinds of wood they were using and professors and 52 students. how much. The results were published The College’s first permanent dean, Dr. Hugh by SU in 1913 and laid the ground- Potter Baker, arrived a few months after the first work for the wide range of research academic year had begun. that continues at ESF to this day. “Only a man with great fortitude and perseve- Also in 1912, the College purchased rance could have prevailed over such obstacles,’’ 12 acres adjacent to SU from the wrote former Dean Nelson C. Brown in “State university. Five years later, in 1917, University of New York College of Forestry: 50 forestry education gained a permanent Years,” a collection of essays published in 1961.