Boise Cascade CEO Visits College

John B. Fery, chairman and chief executive officer of Boise Cascade Corp., spent a day last spring at the College of Forestry, getting acquainted with the facilities, programs, faculty, and students here.

Fery was accompanied by Boise Cascade vice president Donald Smith. The two executives, escorted by OSU President John Byrne and College of Forestry Dean George Brown, toured the Forest Research Laboratory and Peavy Hall. Among the things they saw:

You need to be hungry. Boise Cascade's CEO visits with students.

Demonstrations of the research in optical scanning, aimed at automating the process of identifying flaws in veneer and other wood products
Wheeler Wood Composites Laboratory, where innovative engineered wood products are devised and tested
The Wood Preservation Laboratory, devoted to finding methods of lengthening the service life of wood poles, pilings, and the like
The papermaking machine, a small but complete version of the giant machines used in industry
The lumber testing area, where researchers are finding ways to correlate American lumber standards with those of Europe and Russia
A demonstration of SNAP, a computer program written by forest engineering professor John Sessions to help design efficient forest plans

After the tour, Fery met with six top forestry students to discuss, among other things, job prospects for new graduates. "What are we looking for in a new employee? You need to by hungry," Fery told the students. "You need to be personally committed to moving along-hungry to continue to learn, to advance your careers, to make a better tomorrow."

Student Norm Baton, a graduating senior in forest management, said, "It was interesting. In a short time I got a glimpse of what Boise Cascade was all about." Another forest management graduating senior, Marganne Allen, said, "It was nice to be able to ask questions about the company's community involvement, and I was pleased to hear that they have continuing education for their employees."