technologists and scientists — a 

 need that increased during the 

 postwar boom in home 

 construction, furniture, packaging, 

 pulp and paper, and other wood- 

 based products (Ellis 1964). 



This postwar boom was 

 accompanied by the return of war 

 veterans and the passage of the GI 

 bill, which provided them with 

 tuition and support funds to 

 prepare themselves for civilian 

 careers. Forestry schools were 

 overwhelmed. Nationally, 

 undergraduate enrollment jumped 

 1,128 percent from 1944 to 1946 

 (from 571 to 7,010). Graduate 

 enrollment increased 1,317 percent 

 over this same period. Nationally, 

 seven new 4-year undergraduate 

 programs were established between 

 1945 and 1949. Four of these were 

 in the South: Auburn, Louisiana 

 Tech, and Oklahoma State 

 Universities in 1946; Stephen F. 

 Austin State University in 1947 

 (Dana and Johnson 1963). 



Arkansas A. & M. (now the 

 University of Arkansas at 

 Monticello) and Mississippi State 

 soon expanded existing courses of 

 study into full-blown professional 

 forestry majors in 1950 and 1954, 

 respectively. McNeese State 

 started a forestry program in 1954. 

 Clemson began a professional 

 program in 1957. Tennessee and 

 Texas A. & M. followed later. 



need for trained people in wood 

 science and technology. Duke 

 began a master's level program 

 before World War II; Auburn 

 established an undergraduate 

 curriculum in 1946; North Carolina 

 State began in 1948. These were 

 followed by Florida about 1956 and 

 Louisiana State University, which 

 began offering a master's level 

 program in 1961. 



By the end of 1960, 107 bachelor's 

 and 153 master's degrees in wood 

 science and technology fields had 

 been awarded in the South. Duke 

 University (1953) and North 

 Carolina State (1958) began 

 offering Ph.D. programs to train 

 scientists for research and teaching 

 careers (Ellis 1964). In addition, in 

 1952 North Carolina State 

 established the first (and only) 

 undergraduate program in pulp and 

 paper technology in the South, to 

 train people for careers in pulp and 

 paper manufacturing (Say lor 1979). 



Rapid postwar growth of forest 

 industries and their forestry 

 programs resulted in a long-term 

 growth in demand for professional 

 foresters in the South. By 1960, 

 the 73 pulp and paper mills in the 

 12 Southern States employed a 

 total of 1,396 (Southern Pulpwood 

 Conservation Association n.d.); by 

 1976, there were 112 mills 

 employing 2,208 (Southern Forest 

 Institute n.d.). 



Duke, Auburn, and North Carolina 

 State were the first to initiate 

 professional programs to meet the 



A fifth factor affecting the demand 

 for trained foresters was the 

 growth of Southern State forestry 



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