Erin Kelly MS, Social Science Major Professor: John Bliss

I'm from The Dalles, Oregon, a quiet town that mainly serves as a rest stop on I-84, providing hamburgers and tacos to the weary. It has a dam, a shut-down aluminum plant, and lots of cherry orchards. After graduating from high school, I went to Whitman College, where, with dreams of gold and fame, I studied psychology. Thus prepared for a virtually unlimited number of rewarding career opportunities, I left the US to teach English. I taught in South Korea, Hungary, and Kyrgyzstan, and managed to hike or generally loaf about most of Europe and Asia. I was walking down a road near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, when I decided that I'd go back to school and do something in forestry. Lucky for me, there's such a thing as forest social science. I decided to go to OSU, which made my parents very happy, as they were both Beavers themselves. Now I'm doing my research in northeastern Oregon, in lovely Wallowa County, examining the relationship between a community and its forest. I'm interested in the complex interactions between society and the land, and how and why land management policies are formed. I expect to be gainfully employed someday, probably as a hairdresser.