Professor James B. (Jim) Pickens is retiring from the Michigan Tech School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science after 30 years of teaching,research, and service to the school. Jim wore many hats during his time with the School—teacher, storyteller, graduate program coordinator for the School, University Senator, and developer and manager of our very successful Master of Forestry program.
When asked to reflect on his career, Jim says, “It was a hoot publishing lots of very theoretical mathematics papers, especially in the first 15 years here.” Another highlight: receiving the Hardwood Research Award from the National Hardwood Research Council for his development of a hardwood log-bucker training program for implementation in the eastern US. This award is only given out once a year and may be the only industry-sponsored award in forestry and wood products. Jim says his greatest achievement was not a paper or training program—it was his students. He focuses on how rewarding it was to develop the Master of Forestry program and help 47 students earn master’s degrees in the past 10 years. “I worked them twice as hard and gave them half the credit, and those are both good things,” Jim says, chuckling.
Jim had the fortune of ending his teaching career with a particularly good Forest Resource Management class. “This was a group of phenomenal students who worked hard, thought clearly, and excelled. They are great students who also melded to form a great class; one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other.”
In retirement, Jim looks forward to spending more time with his spouse, dogs, gardens, and orchard. His other goal is to “personally meet every fish in Michigan and . . . Montana.”
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