AN EMPIRICAL EXPLORATION OF THE ROLE OF MARKETING IN FORESTRY EDUCATION

Forest products managers indicate that it is important for college gra duates to have an understanding of marketing in order to be competitiv e in the workplace. This research, in part a replication of a study co mpleted 30 years ago, was conducted to elicit information that would b e useful to faculty, students, administrators, and managers concerning the current role of marketing in forestry schools. A questionnaire wa s sent to 443 forestry professors universities in the United States, C anada, and Mexico. Two interesting findings include the apparent exist ence of a misconception about the functions of economics and marketing in forestry education, and, although industry consistently calls for more marketing emphasis in forest products curricula, these results su ggest that forestry schools could do much more to meet this need by en couraging and funding forest products marketing programs.