Through partnerships and collaboration, with the help
of our USDA Liaisons, our students obtained intern-
ships at companies and agencies including The Davey
Tree Expert Company, Weyerhaeuser, the USDA Forest
Service and Natural Resources and Conservation
Service (NRCS), Monsanto, Georgia Power, Louisiana
State University, Baton Rouge Recreation and Park
Commission, and non-profit organizations like The
Greening of Detroit and Baton Rouge Green, among
others. Our graduates got jobs and job offers from the
USDA Forest Service, USDA NRCS, Bartlett Tree Experts,
Georgia Power, Oakdale Community College, Louisiana
State University, North Carolina State University, Baton
Rouge Recreation and Park Commission, and others.
The USDA Forest Service funding at the Department
supports the Beginning Agricultural Youth Opportunities
Unlimited (BAYOU) Program that offers an opportunity
for high school students to gain first-hand knowl-
edge about career opportunities in agriculture, urban
forestry, family and consumer sciences, and related dis-
ciplines. In summer 2020, led by Drs. Renita Marshall,
Tiffany Franklin, Harold Mellieon, and Chris Chappell,
the first virtual iteration of the BAYOU program suc-
cessfully recruited new students for the entire College.
Dr. Chappell is very excited to partner with the USDA
Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program
to prepare the next generation of urban forestry
professionals. Through the Urban Forestry Career
Readiness Campaign project funded in fall 2020, he
plans to expose students across the nation to the
unique Urban Forestry program at SU using creative
online approaches, like a TED Talks-style series from
elite SU Urban Forestry Alumni. "Our program has
produced exceptional talents across a wide range of
green industries, even extended to urban planning, real
estate development, policy, and law," Chappell says.
SU System's Outstanding Rising Star Award winner, Dr.
Yaw Twumasi, has been leading a project that uses geo-
spatial technology to enhance students' experiential
learning. Funded by the 1890 Universities Foundation,
the overall goal of this project is to increase geographic
and spatial literacy, engage students in learning, help
the stakeholders to utilize geospatial technology, and
boost the economic benefits of GIS to limited-resource
farmers, veterans, beginning farmers, and ranchers.
At the 2019 Municipal Forestry Institute are (front
left to right) Dr. Yadong Qi, Beattra Wilson, Jerri
LaHaie, and Andy Hillman. Back left to right are Walt
Warriner, Paul Ries, Owen Croy, and John McNeil.
Dr. Twumasi with his former graduate student,
Josh Tate, at the GIS Lab in 2019.
Partnerships and Collaboration Partnerships and Collaboration
16 CityTREES
