Alabama A&M University Forestry Program Celebrates Accreditation

The Alabama A&M University (AAMU) forestry program recently celebrated receiving accreditation by the Society of American Foresters. The distinction makes the AAMU forestry program the first and only SAF-accredited forestry program on a historically black college or university campus in the nation and one of only 49 accredited forestry programs in the United States.

"This accreditation is a validation of the forestry program at Alabama A&M University and of the quality of our students," says George Brown, director of AAMU's Center for Forestry and Ecology. "It validates what we've been working for and is a credit to our graduates."

Brown adds that more than half of the African American foresters currently serving in the USDA Forest Service, Alabama Forestry Commission, and International Paper Company graduated from AAMU.

"This accreditation is a validation of the quality of their education and will create more opportunities for many more African American students to enter and succeed in this dynamic profession," he says.

AAMU university officials submitted a formal request to have the university's forest curricula reviewed for candidate status in 1998. The forest management curriculum received candidate status in 1999, while the forest science curriculum was granted candidate status in 2000.

Accreditation of forestry schools has been a critically important function of SAF since the program was initiated in 1935. Over the years, accreditation processes and standards have been reviewed and revised several times to assure that graduates continue to meet contemporary needs.

SAF grants accreditation only to specific educational curricula that lead to a first professional degree in forestry at the bachelor's or master's level. SAF also grants recognition only to educational programs leading to a two-year associates degree in forest technology. Recognition is not the equivalent of accreditation of professional forestry programs.

In making its decision to grant accreditation to the forestry degree program at AAMU, the SAF Accreditation Committee considered the program's missions, goals, and objectives; curriculum; organization and administration; faculty; students; institutional support; physical resources and facilities; and public service. The accreditation team visiting AAMU also commended the university's forestry program on its leadership and overall team work, identification of an "educational niche," student placement capabilities, and employer and alumni evaluation process.

"SAF is very excited about Alabama A&M's success in acquiring accredited status," says Michelle Mauthe Harvey, CF, SAF's director of science and education. "The faculty, administration, and partners such as the USDA Forest Service and International Paper have spent more than five years creating a program that meets or exceeds SAF standards. And, as a historically black college, A&M offers a source of professional graduates who can increase the diversity of the forestry profession. It is our sincere hope that A&M will serve as a role model for similar institutions."

Louise Wyche, national program manager for student employment at the USDA Forest Service Office at AAMU, says that the accreditation of AAMU's forestry program is "the greatest thing that has happened" to any group of African American students interested in a career in natural resources management.

"I see this as a way of really enhancing our academic credibility, not only throughout the agency but with private industry and other state and local forestry-related organizations," says Wyche. "I am just as proud of my students as I can be. It has been a long time coming."

The AAMU forestry program traces its beginnings back more than 30 years with its first Summer Logging Course taught by Estell Ezell, a practicing logger and woodland owner who directed the Choctaw County Vocational School in Lisbon, Alabama. A bachelor's degree program in timber-harvesting management was formed in 1975 and was renamed the Forestry Operations Management Program in 1985. Three years later, Brown, with significant support from the Forest Service, helped to revise the program to a bachelor's degree program in forestry with options in forest management and forest science.

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