BSE Students at the WPPF Annual Banquet

The University of Washington's (UW) Bioresource Science and Engineering (BSE) department and the Washington Pulp and Paper Foundation (https://depts.washington.edu/wppf) celebrated their 48th year of association with a day of student poster presentations, demonstrations of papermaking and an annual banquet with student reflections as well as presentations of the "Outstanding Alumni" and "Wall of Fame" awards.

The Wall of Fame Award was presented to Thomas Wolford, PhD, former executive director of the Washington Pulp and Paper Foundation (WPPF). Dr. Wolford served as executive director from 2005 to 2012 and led the program through challenging economic times in our industry. He returned to industry as a Product Development Manager for Graphic Packaging in 2012. Even though he faced and succeeded when facing an economic challenge, he will always be remembered for creating the tag line "It's all about the students."

Gary Jergensen, a 1972 alumnus of the UW program, was feted as our "Outstanding Alum." He has steadfastly supported the Foundation through generous giving of his time, talent and financial support. He recently retired from Albany International and, true to his spirit, is building homes with his wife, Karleen, for Habitat for Humanity all over the world. His dedication to helping others prosper and succeed are obvious to everyone who knows him or has the opportunity to work with him. As notable as his generosity is the fact that his son, Stuart, graduated from the UW BSE program in 2015. Stuart also exercised much servant leadership as UW's Student TAPPI President his senior year. Many alumni donate their talent, time and money but not all can donate their son.

The WPPF and the UW BSE program have nearly a 50 year legacy of mutual support. Since 1968 the WPPF has remained a vigorous and enterprising organization of nearly 50 member companies, alumni and friends centered at the UW to create a competitive advantage for the pulp, paper and bioresource industries through focused and dedicated graduates. The WPPF mission is to provide the pulp, paper and bioresource industries with outstanding, dedicated graduates in BSE from the UW who have breadth and depth of knowledge, make immediate contributions, are future leaders and are grounded in the principles of teamwork, sustainability, stewardship and economic vitality. The Core Values which guide the WPPF Vision and Mission are: open communication, cooperation and commitment to success.

The BSE degree was established at the UW in the College of Forest Resources and as a degree program in 1965. The degree was initially titled Pulp and Paper Technology and subsequently, with ABET accreditation, Paper Science and Engineering (PSE). As curriculum was added to develop skills related to the manufacture of additional bioproducts, the program was renamed Bioresource Science and Engineering. The College of Forest Resources is now the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and the development of the BSE degree came with increased industry activity to investigate the transformation of varied bioresources into alternative products, e.g., fuel, chemicals, as well as more traditional pulp and paper end uses. The UW BSE program is the only similar engineering program offered west of the Mississippi. The program seeks to develop process engineers who will optimize the sustainable manufacture of value added materials, e.g. pulp, paper, fuels, and chemicals from renewable resources.

The WPPF supports the BSE program by recruiting and supporting exceptional students who understand and are dedicated to a range of bioresource based industries. Support is not only provided in terms of scholarships but also through internships, industry expert seminars, mentoring relationships and a path to full time employment after graduation. It should be noted that more than 75% of the BSE graduates will be hired by one of the WPPF member companies.

The WPPF is now actively planning for a celebration of the Foundation's 50th anniversary on May 24, 2018. We hope all of our alumni and member companies will mark this on their calendar and commit to attend, celebrate with us and support our students.