Terry Sharik

Biography

Terry Sharik retired as dean of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (SFRES) at Michigan Tech on June 30, 2018.  He remains a research professor in the School. He holds a B.S. degree in Forestry and Wildlife Management from West Virginia University and M.F. and Ph.D. degrees in Forest Recreation and Forest Botany, respectively, from the University of Michigan.  Prior to assuming the SFRES deanship in July 2012, he held faculty positions at Oberlin College, Virginia Tech, Michigan Tech, University of Michigan Biological Station, and Utah State University (USU).  While at Michigan Tech, he served as president of the University Senate and as co-director of the Lake Superior Ecosystem Research Center.  During his tenure at USU, he served as head of the Department of Forest Resources and the Department of Environment and Society, both in the College of Natural Resources.

Dr. Sharik has contributed significantly to the furtherance of research, teaching, and outreach in the natural resources profession through his leadership at the national and international levels.  He is co-founder of the Biennial Conferences on University Education in Natural Resources and the North American Forest Ecology Workshops.  He serves as the Education Chair for the National Association of University Forest Resources Programs (NAUFRP), where he co-authored a strategic plan for enhancement in undergraduate education in forestry and related areas of natural resources and continues to analyze enrollment trends in these fields dating back to 1980.  His involvement with the Society of American Foresters, where he is a Fellow, includes being on the editorial board of the Journal of Forestry for forest ecology and for communications and education, and on the Task Force for Accreditation in Natural Resources.  He has been active at the international level through the International Symposia on Forestry Education, the International Partnership in Forestry, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, and the International Journal of Forestry Research (as guest editor of a special issue).   He currently serves on the boards or oversight committees of the Sustainable Forests Partnership (chair), Rocky Mountain Science and Sustainability Network, and Gombe (Tanzania) School of Environment and Society-USA (chair).   He is the author of over a hundred publications in more than thirty journals in the areas of forest ecology and the scholarship of teaching and learning.