Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State forestry alumnus is the new dean of the university's College of Forest Resources and director of its Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
George M. Hopper assumes his new duties July 15, pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning. The Vicksburg native succeeds interim dean Bob L. Karr, who has retired after 29 years of service.
MSU's College of Forest Resources includes the departments of forestry, forest products, and wildlife and fisheries.
Hopper has served for 11 years as head of the department of forestry, wildlife and fisheries at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He previously was a professor for 11 years in the department.
A specialist in hardwood silviculture and the biology of oaks, Hopper earlier worked for Mississippi State's forestry department and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Anderson-Tully Lumber Co.
In addition to bachelor's and master's degrees from MSU, he holds a doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Besides holding the title of Society of American Foresters Fellow, he is president-elect for the Southern region of the National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges.
Hopper's appointment was announced jointly by Vance Watson and Peter Rabideau. Watson is vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine; Rabideau, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Watson said, "Dr. Hopper will lead the departments of forestry, forest products, and wildlife and fisheries toward national prominence in teaching, research and service."
Added Rabideau: "He also will help strengthen the contributions of natural resources to the economic and environmental welfare of the people of Mississippi."