MONTICELLO, Arkansas — University of Arkansas at Monticello forestry professor, Dr. Robert Ficklin, has received one of the highest honors in the forestry profession. On September 30, Ficklin received the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Fellows Award. Ficklin has been a member of SAF since 1991. He joined the faculty at the UAM School of Forestry in January 2002, and he worked his way through the ranks, now a Professor and Associate Dean of Academics at the UAM College of Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources.
Ficklin has taught several courses in natural resource ecology, management and sampling, but his benchmark course is forest soils. “I teach soil science principles primarily from the natural resources perspective, which contrasts a bit with the agronomic view. I place a little bit more emphasis on nutrient cycling and sustainable productivity with limited inputs.”
Fellows Award Highest Forestry Honor
According to Ficklin, “the Fellows Award recognizes individuals with a long-standing commitment to forestry, promoting forestry. Depending on your particular discipline, you must distinguish yourself in some aspects of your career. It is an award that your peers nominate you for. I’m humbled and honored by that. My nominators were from across the state of Arkansas.
“The fellow award from the Society of American Foresters is its highest level of recognition for folks in the forestry profession, said Dr. Michael Blazier, dean of the UAM College for Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources.
Blazier adds, “It’s awarded for service in the forestry profession, and Dr. Ficklin has contributed substantially to the forestry profession through his teaching; his students hold him in high regard. Those students are working throughout the forestry profession nationally, thriving, and look back to Dr. Ficklin as one of their favorite professors. He said Dr. Ficklin is also highly committed to service to the Society of American Foresters.
Ficklin Recognized for Research
Retired forester Larry Nance is one of the people who nominated Ficklin for the award. Nance is a retired Deputy State Forester with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Forestry Division. Nance said, “Rob has been involved in a lot of research with the university, especially in the loblolly pine. His research has been very helpful to us in the field.”
Nance and Ficklin served on the Ouachita Society of American Foresters Executive Committee for nearly 15 years. Nance said Ficklin has been instrumental with SAF at the state and national levels. “The Society depends on Rob to get out communications to all of the members. The Ouachita Society is not just Arkansas but a multi-state society. It also includes Oklahoma. Ficklin held high offices in both in the Ouachita Society, both the Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary.
“Rob always brought his students to the different national meetings. Ficklin was the advisor for the UAM Quiz Bowl Team. “That’s a national event they have at the National Society of American Foresters meetings, and it’s a competition among forestry schools from across the country,” said Nance.
“I guess part of Rob’s legacy would be that over 20 years he’s had a lot of students that have graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He’s been responsible for many students who have taken leadership positions in their employment. I know students who graduated from UAM and have taken leadership positions in industry, government, and the private sector. Nance added, “Rob takes a personal interest in everything, including leadership. He is a great leader in anything he is involved in.”
Ficklin Builds Student SAF Chapter at UAM
Retired University of Arkansas Extension Agent Carroll Guffey also nominated Ficklin. He said he worked with Ficklin for 10 or 12 years.
“One of the reasons that I nominated him is that when we first started continuing education for foresters, we had 400-plus foresters out in the field, and we didn’t have a good contact mechanism. Rob created a list of all foresters, and then anytime a continuing education class or anything adventurous to foresters came up, we passed that to Rob.” Ficklin, in essence, has built a database for the Ouachita Society Chapter of Foresters. Guffey added, “He boosted student chapter participation. When Rob came, there were there just 4-5 members. He built that program up to what it is today.” Guffey added, “It’s a much better program from the student chapter than it was.”
“He wasn’t an easy ‘A’; he was a taskmaster. But the students liked him, and they appreciated Dr. Ficklin. He was upfront with his students. He’s highly interested in them, you know, he didn’t want anybody to get behind.
“He went beyond his position at SAF. He stepped up and put together and organized meetings. He was a big, big positive and was the Go-To person. If you wanted any information out to foresters about meetings, about anything, you gave it to Rob, and all the foresters in Arkansas and Oklahoma knew about it.
Ficklin said he didn’t have a forester in his family. He grew up in a rural suburban area with a creek behind the house that he fished- when chores were done. He said he would go on float trips and run around in the woods, but he didn’t grow up surrounded by industrial forestry.
Like many young students, Ficklin has a person who was instrumental in focusing his career. Ficklin’ s appetite for nature was fed by sixth-grade teacher Mr. Cowan. Ficklin credits Mr. Cowan with assigning students to compile a study of nature and conservation- Nature Study 6. During the school year, students collected leaf samples, insect samples, and informational pamphlets. Students also wrote letters to the US Forest Service, political offices, and nature-type agencies. Although he didn’t know it at the time, the two bound books he kept were organized much like a thesis.
Ficklin eventually decided he wanted to study nature. “Enjoying and appreciating nature and forests is a first step, but there’s a leap that has to be made for someone to make a career working with forests,” said Ficklin. “Instead of just enjoying being outside, I wanted to commit my professional life and career to studying nature. The forestry profession is founded on management based upon sound science about forests and natural systems- a good personal and professional fit,” said Ficklin.
Ficklin believes an appreciation of nature needs to be fostered at a young age. “I think it is important for us to try to reach students at about sixth or seventh grade. By the time they’re in 10th grade, it’s probably too late, we may have missed them.
Ficklin is only the third forestry professor in the history of the UAM forestry program to receive the SAF Fellow Award. UAM Forestry Department founder Hank Chamberlin won in 1982, and Dr. Timothy Ku in 1985, are the other two recipients.
“It’s a testament to a lifetime of service to the forestry profession and the Society of American Foresters in particular. It is an example of high-level achievement,” said Dr. Blazier.
