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Washington Pulp and Paper Foundation
Paper Science & Engineering
School of Forest Resources
University of Washington
July 2009 |
2009 Annual Conference
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The 40th
WPPF annual conference was packed with events and topics
presenting opportunities and challenges for the future.
The
morning Board of Directors’ meeting had presentations by Judy
Peterson, Senior Associate Treasurer/Chief Operations Officer,
Treasury Office, and Dennis Hartmann, Interim Dean, College of
the Environment & Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, in addition
to the WPPF business at hand. Judy Peterson reported on the
Regents’ decision to modify the Consolidated Endowment Fund
(CEF) spending policy. As of March 31, 2009, the CEF has a one
year loss of 29.2 % and it was decided to avoid further losses
by reducing the income from endowments. This decision’s effect
on WPPF’s budget is a reduction in scholarship funds by ~$40,000
in FY2009 and $62,000 in FY2010 through FY2013. This means that
WPPF will have a negative operating budget in the upcoming years
that will be paid through cash on hand and with the surplus from
our previous few years. The Foundation will be shifting some of
its activities and focus on efforts that have the potential to
generate cash to balance the budget.
Dennis Hartmann reported
on the status and plans of the new College of the Environment (CoEnv).
The College of Forest Resources, including PSE, has voted to
join and officially will become part of CoEnv on July 1st. The
CoEnv will have a strong science based discipline and the Paper
Science and Engineering department will have a significant
engineering role.
The major concern for the Board of Directors
is how to continue to grow the PSE enrollment, while minimizing
losses to the budget. Enrollment has shown a nice increase is
PSE students. Spring term enrollment was at 10-year high and 13
seniors graduated in 2009.The scholarship award levels were
frozen at the 2008-09 schedule and the 20% planned increase was
delayed. A new alumni steering team was formed to recruit
support from the alumni.
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At the Business Luncheon, Dean Bruce Bare recounted the past partnership
with WPPF and gave a report on the future of our industry. While the
present year and next couple of years look rough for our industry,
further out, in 5-10 years we will see a rebound. Dean Bare concluded
with issues and opportunities for WPPF to:
- Continue to recruit excellent
students
with adequate scholarship support
- Add faculty capacity in
program
- Improve educational and research
facilities
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Dean Bare and President Mike Haas took the opportunity to sign a new
Matching Funds Agreement of $15,000 through June 30, 2011.
[From left:
Mike Haas, Tom Wolford & Dean Bare] |
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The afternoon session showcased our PSE students with a poster session
followed by graduate student seminars. The senior design capstone
project, Ethanol Production from Sludge, Pulp and Red Liquor at the K-C
Everett Mill, attracted a lot of attention. [Sabrina Burkhardt (PSE/ChemE
’10) and Christopher Thralls (PSE/ChemE ’10) at poster session]
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The graduate student seminars “Bioconversion Basics: Using Old
Techniques to Generate New Products “ and “Biological Production of
Ethanol, Xylitol and Arabitol by Novel Naturally Occurring Yeast” were
well attended, informative and received excellent reviews.
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At the evening banquet, we honored Miles Hewitt as our
Outstanding
Alumni. [Bill Fuller, class of ’67, presenting award to Miles Hewitt,
class of ’82] |
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Former Executive Director, John Hanby was recognized with the
Wall of
Fame Award. [From left: Mike Haas, John Hanby & Bob Morgan]
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Bruce McIntyre, Advisory Services Partner, Global Forest & Paper
Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, informed and engaged the audience on
the topic of sustainability in the Forest, Paper and Packaging
Industries. “Sustainability is generally recognized as a key ethical
business issue and driver of competitive advantage.” Bruce engaged our
students by indicating future needs including:
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- Simpler, more flexible business models improvement in operating
efficiencies
- Reduction in major input cost, such as fiber and energy
- More leverage of the industry’s sustainability issues
- Future talent and the need to attract and retain leadership
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The evening concluded with a scholarship fund raising auctioning
of various items donated by the alumni, member companies and
friends of the Foundation. The auction generated over $7,900 and
after adding the Dean’s match, will provide almost $12,000 which
is equal to four scholarships.
Thank you Alumni, Members and
Friends of the Foundation!
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PPERA and All Foundations
Meeting
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On June 18th and 19th, the University of Washington hosted the
Pulp and Paper Education and Research Alliance (PPERA) and All
Foundations meeting. This annual meeting is an opportunity to
benchmark best practices around the country. Several
foundations are seeing the same issues and opportunities as is
the WPPF. Enrollment is growing due to interest in
bio-conversion of cellulose to energy and fuel. The need for
graduates is expected to be very high due to retirement. The endowment bases and
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income from endowment
are low. Membership has suffered and many companies are
reducing donations or declining renewal. Employment
opportunities are much better and, of all the Foundations
nationwide, the University of Washington is the only school that
has had difficulty placing graduates. One of the initiatives
from this meeting was a united approach to pulp and paper CEOs
seeking support for our programs. This is particularly needed
due to the loss of income from endowment as well as growth in
student population. [From left: Jerry Lazarski (UWSP), Linda
Fagan (SUNY ESF), Gerry Ring (UWSP), Mike Haas (WPPF), John
Hanby (WPPF), Bill McKean (UW). Continuing from right side of
sign: Rick Gustafson (UW), Gopal Krishnagopalan (Auburn U),
David Bell (TAPPI), Stephen Kelley (NC State), Shri Ramaswamy (U
Minnesota), Tom Wolford (WPPF), Todd Downey (Miami U), Michelle
Musso (Lower Columbia College), Gary Scott (SUNY ESF) & Richard
Kerekes (UBC). Not shown: Said AbuBakr (Western Michigan U),
Ralph Benefiel (Lower Columbia College), Ron Brown (AFPA), Harry
Cullinan (Auburn), Kevin Hodgson (UW), Jeff Hsieh (Georgia
Tech), Ted Wegner (USDA Forest Service) & Jerrold Winandy (U
Minnesota).]
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PSE Student News
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Lauren Turner (PSE/ChemE ’11), PSE senior this fall, received a $1000
TAPPI scholarship – the Robert W. Hagemeyer Scholarship, Coating and
Graphic Arts Division. Congratulations, Lauren! |
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While at the PaperCon in St. Louis, Zac Mahlum (PSEChemE ’10) and
Chris Ardales (PSE ’09) attended a leadership meeting with several TAPPI
leaders and Zac was elected chairman of a new committeee: the Young
Professionals Committee. The committee will attempt to bridge the gap
between high student membership and very low numbers of young
professional membership. |
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The Washington
Pulp and Paper Foundation is a vigorous and enterprising organization of member
companies, alumni and friends centered at the University of Washington.
Our mission is to provide the paper and allied industries with outstanding
graduates who have breadth and depth of knowledge, make immediate contributions
and are future leaders.
Thank you for your support of the Washington Pulp & Paper Foundation
and the
Paper Science & Engineering program.
To unsubscribe, or to receive this newsletter in text format, send a message to
wppf@u.washington.edu
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