General Information

Date and Location

The Forest Education Summit was held at the University of California, Berkeley on May 7-9, 2014, marking the centennial celebration of Cal's forestry education program.

A follow-up webinar was held on June 9, 2014 for those interested in the topic of forestry education to hear the recommendations developed at the Summit, and to provide feedback to the Steering Committee. Links for the webinar recording and the survey form for input can be viewed HERE.

Goals of the Summit

The Berkeley Summit is designed to produce recommendations on forest science and forestry education by engaging a select group of leaders in universities, forestry employers and students. These recommendations will provide input to the forestry accreditation process and provide guidance to the development of university curriculum, and critically evaluate the role of education in forest land stewardship. The eight themes developed at the Summit include:

Curricula – relation between forestry, environmental science and natural resource management;
Distance learning and new educational models;
Professional Masters programs;
Role of professional accreditation;
Employment trends in forestry;
Forest science in U.S. research universities;
Opportunities for international programs;
Diversifying student demographics.

Process

The program and outcomes for the Berkeley Summit are guided by a select steering committee (see attached list). The Summit will build on existing efforts by organizations currently working on forestry education (Coalition of Natural Resource Societies [CNRS], International Partnership for Forestry Education [IPFE], and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations [IUFRO]). However, the focus of this meeting will be on forestry education in the United States and Canada. A pre-Summit survey, coordinated by the Pinchot Institute, will be compared to trends from a 1999 survey (http://www.pinchot.org/pubs/70) to provide focus to the working groups to be convened at the Summit.

On June 9, 2014, following the Summit, an international webinar was held to allow the key recommendations to be presented and critiqued by professionals, students and a diverse array of forestry interest groups. A recording of the webinar and a form to provide input on the recommendations can be found HERE.