KAREN POTTER-WITTER
111 Natural Resources Building
Michigan State University
Lansing, MI. 48823
517-353-8474
QUALIFICATIONS:
Twenty-five years of professional forestry experience, performing benefit-cost analysis, policy analysis, and resource assessment in public and private sectors, domestically and internationally. Seventeen years of natural resource economics research and teaching at Michigan State University.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2000-present Professor
Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Research, extension and teaching in forest economics and forest business management. Member of interdepartmental resource economics faculty.
1990-2000 Associate Professor
Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Member, University Anti-discrimination Judicial Board, Chair 1999.
Chairperson of Department Advisory Committee 1992-93, 1996-97.
1985-1990 Assistant Professor
Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
1984-1985 Consultant & Adjunct Professor
Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Analyst on Michigan State University's Comprehensive Resource Inventory and Evaluation System Project (CRIES) to perform a prefeasibility analysis for forest management activities in the Dominican Republic.
1983-1984 Assistant Professor
Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Undergraduate & graduate teaching in resource economics & policy. Research in forest economics. Headed interdisciplinary team that developed the Dominican Republic's National Forestry Plan with counterparts in country. Undergraduate & graduate student advising, advisor for U.S. Forest Service's graduate fellows Program. Member of undergraduate curriculum committee & interdepartmental resource economics core faculty.
1982 Adjunct Professor
Management Science Program, Limestone College, Spartanburg, SC
Developed & taught micro & macroeconomics evening courses to employees in area industries.
1981-1982 Instructor
Florence Darlington Technical College, Florence, SC
Taught economics, business mathematics and statistics.
1978-1981 Research Associate
Greentree Consultants, Lansing, MI
Performed feasibility studies, benefit-cost and policy analysis and project management in forest economics and wood energy production for public and private sector clients including the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of Home Builders.
1977-1978 Research Assistant
University of Minnesota, College of Forestry
Research in economic & environmental impacts of wood fuel use for generation of electricity.
1976-1977 Staff Forester-Cruiser
Potlatch Corporation, North Central Division, Cloquet, MN
Development of operations inventory system and statistical analysis of research projects. Timber cruising for special appraisals and operations inventory.
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. Resource Economics, Michigan State University, 1981
M.S. Forestry- Quantitative Techniques, University of Minnesota, 1978
B.S. Forest Management, with high honors, Michigan Technological University, 1975
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
Ø Society of American Foresters
Fellow 1999 - present
Member 1975-present
Program Chair, 1998 SAF National Convention
Chair of the Michigan SAF 1997
Member of National Convention Planning Committee 1994-1998
Co-Chair Michigan Chapter Policy Committee 1993-1994
Member of Science and Technology Board 1989-1992
Secretary of the Economics, Policy and Law Working Group 1987
Ø Elected member of Xi Sigma Pi, 1974
Ø President, Michigan Association of Extension Specialists 1989-90; Vice President 1988-89
Ø Member, Governor's Forest Products Industry Development Council. 1985-1992
Ø Technical Advisor, Michigan Society of Planning Officials, Lansing, MI
Ø Advisor, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Midland, MI. 1994-present
AWARDS:
· Fellow, Society of American Foresters, elected 1999
· Forester of the Year-1998, Michigan Society of American Foresters
· President’s Council of Alumnae, Michigan Technological University, inducted 1998
· Michigan Association of Timbermen, Special Recognition 1994
COURSES TAUGHT:
Graduate level
International Development and Sustainability
Resource Development, Political Science, Anthropology and Forestry 826, 3 semester credits.
Michigan State University. Summer 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998
Forest Policy
Forestry 845, 3 semester credits
Spring 1998
Resource Economics Proseminar
Forestry-Resource Development 910, 3 quarter credits
Michigan State University. Winter 1984, Spring 1989.
Natural Resource Economics
Forestry-Resource Development 809, 3 quarter credits
Michigan State University. Winter 1984.
Undergraduate level
Natural Resource Economics and Social Science
Forestry-Resource Development 464, 3 semester credits
Michigan State University. Fall 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995,1996, 1998.
Timber Management
Forestry 458, 4 quarter credits.
Michigan State University. Fall 1989, 1990, 1991.
Natural Resources in Modern Society
Forestry-Resource Development 491, 3 quarter credits
Michigan State University. Spring 1983, 1984, 1986.
Macroeconomics
Economics 201, 3 semester credits
Microeconomics
Economics 202, 3 semester credits
Limestone College, Management Science Program. Fall 1982.
FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS: (past 5 years)
Examination of the Role of Incentives for Private Forest landowners in Michigan. Michigan Department of Natural Resources & USDA Forest Service, State & Private Forestry, current.
Predicting Growth, Survival and Financial Returns under Alternative Management Regimes for Plantation red Pine. McIntire-Stennis. Current (with C. W. Ramm).
Advanced Technology Applications to Eastern Hardwood Utilization - Economic Analysis Component. USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, current (with D.P. Kamdem and D.E. Keathley)
Economic Analysis of Forest Management Opportunities in Michigan, MSU Agricultural Experiment Station, McIntire-Stennis Project 1978, current.
The Analysis of Interdependence among Socio-cultural, Economic, and Ecological Systems in Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula. MSU Agricultural Experiment Station. With M. McDonough, J. Stevens, J. Fried and D. Stynes, 1996-99.
Lake States Timber Supply Modeling, with the USDA Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station, with L. Leefers. 1992-97.