The Ruth H. Spaniol Chair of Renewable Resources
Over a decade ago, Ruth Spaniol, ’33, gave 800 acres of forestland valued at $3.1 million to the OSU Foundation. According to Mrs. Spaniol’s wishes, the Foundation held the proceeds from the eventual sale of the land in three charitable remainder trusts, established to benefit her three children throughout their lifetimes.
With the death of her daughter, Sherry Chain, after a battle with cancer, one of the trusts passed to the College of Forestry, creating an endowed chair in renewable resources. Each trust is currently valued at $2.8 million.
Mrs. Spaniol, who attended OAC (now OSU) during the Depression, taught language arts at Stayton Union High School, including courses in Latin. She began buying timberland sixty years ago after her father (an alum who graduated in 1903) suggested it would be a good investment.
Her long-term vision is to promote the science and educational programs that will allow Oregon forests to be well managed for many generations. “As a society, we’re going to have to do more to preserve and enhance the capability of our forests,” she said in 1992, when she made the gift. “We’ll need to do a lot in the science field—develop new ideas about how to manage forests, not just in the harvest area but in developing new products.”
“This gift is very important to the college,” said Hal Salwasser, dean of the College of Forestry. “Mrs. Spaniol’s generosity means that we will be able to permanently enhance our programs far into the future. Endowed chairs provide the research and salary revenue that helps us attract and retain star faculty, thereby maintaining our status as one of the top forestry schools in the nation.” The College of Forestry now has endowed faculty positions in each of its four departments.
Barbara Bond
Barbara Bond, professor of forest science, is the first holder of the Ruth H. Spaniol Chair of Renewable Resources in the College of Forestry. She was named to the Spaniol Chair in the spring of 2004.
Professor Bond, an expert in forest tree physiology, has been an OSU faculty member since she completed her PhD here in 1992. She studies a range of forest science issues, including change in structure and function in aging forests, ecohydrological interactions in small watersheds, and the impacts of large-scale plantation of exotic forest trees on water resources.
Bond has twice received recognition from graduate students with the Outstanding Faculty Award and is a widely published researcher. One of her research publications was cited by Oxford University Press as one of the 20 most important papers in ecology. In her laboratory, she has worked with students ranging from high school to the post-doctoral level, and is a strong advocate for encouraging more women to pursue careers in science.
She spent a Fulbright-funded sabbatical leave in South America recently and has continued since then to conduct research in Patagonia. She is working in a region there that is almost the mirror image of the Pacific Northwest; the climate is very similar to the climate here, resulting in many parallel interests in both basic and applied science between the two regions.
Bond stresses the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in her work. Most recently, she and several researchers from other OSU units, including crop and soil science and atmospheric science, are studying airsheds in an ecological context; they examine the properties of air in air drainage systems much the same way water in watersheds is sampled and studied in order to gain a clearer picture of ecosystem processes.
Professor Bond began her professional life in education as a junior high school math and science teacher; Ruth Spaniol, whose gift established the Spaniol Chair, was also a public school teacher. The careers of both women manifest a deep commitment to the quality of public education.
