B.S. Forestry, 1960; M.S. Forestry, 1963
Joseph Barnard earned his B.S. degree in Forestry at Penn State in 1960. As an undergraduate he was an active member of Xi Sigma Pi, the Penn State Forestry Society, the Sylvan staff, the Wesley Foundation, and Ag Student Council. Following graduation, Barnard's professional career started with the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Forest Experiment Station as a member of the Forest Survey field crew. Barnard returned to Penn State in 1962 and received his M.S. degree in Forest Ecology the next year. After serving in the U. S. Army, Barnard again attended Penn State for post-graduate work in statistics and ecology under the direction of Professor Wilbur Ward. In 1965, he returned to the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station in Upper Darby, PA, where he was responsible for forest survey data processing and for survey techniques research.
Barnard retired from the USDA Forest Service in 1996 as the national manager of the multi-million dollar Forest Health Monitoring Program headquartered at the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Research Triangle Park, NC. His career with the Forest Service spanned 30+ years in the research division, specializing in forest inventory and forest health issues, and he authored more than 60 research publications focusing on the status and condition of our nation's forest resource.
Following retirement, Barnard became the part-time executive director of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association (PFA), serving in that position until October 2000. He is a PFA life member and served as the association's treasurer from 2003 to 2006.
Barnard has received numerous professional awards including the Secretary of Agriculture's Superior Service Award in 1983 and USDA's Excellence Award for Technology Transfer in 1989. He received the Rothrock Conservationist of the Year Award in 1982 from PFA, and is currently chairman of PFA's Rothrock Award committee. Barnard was named Forester of the Year in 1982 by the Allegheny Section, Society of American Foresters.
Barnard served two, three-year terms as an elected member of the School of Forest Resources Alumni Group Board of Directors (2002-05 and 2005-08). He was a working member of the School of Forest Resources Centennial Planning Committee and also represented the alumni group during the interview process for the selection of the new director of the School of Forest Resources. For the past 20 years, he has been a member of the School's External Committee of the Goddard Chair of Forestry at Penn State. He has been an invited lecturer in the Forest Policy class.
Barnard and his wife Phyllis reside in Mount Joy, PA, and are active with their family, church, and forestry interests. Barnard sings in his church choir and volunteers with the computer managers at the Lancaster Bible College. In 2007, he and Phyllis took part in their church's mission trip to Pass Christian, MS, to help post-Katrina rebuilding efforts.
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
- Office 814-865-7541
- Fax 814-865-3725
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
- Office 814-865-7541
- Fax 814-865-3725