GAINESVILLE—The John Gray Fund for Excellence is sponsoring a distinguished lecture series in forest resources and conservation. Professor William R. Bentley, a senior research scholar at Yale University and president of Salmon Brook Associates in Granby, Conn., will present the university-wide lecture on Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. in Room 282 of the J. Wayne Reitz Union on the University of Florida campus. His topic is: The Seventh American Forest Congress and its Next Steps – Evidence of a Paradigm Shift?

As president of Salmon Brook Associates, Bentley helps organizations develop forestry and environmental programs with a focus on strategic thinking and the development of people to manage forest resources in changing political and economic environments. As executive director of the Seventh American Forest Congress, he organized a gathering of more than 1,500 people to consider the nation’s forest and management practices, and to engage them in strategic thinking about natural resources. He is a specialist in forest policy and management with 33 years experience in research, education and operations. Bentley managed the Forestry Research Division of Crown Zellerbach Corp., worked in several countries, including India and other Asian nations, on social forestry, agroforestry, and various forest policy issues, part with Winrock International, and as a faculty member at Iowa State University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Michigan and the University of Connecticut. He was a Senior Fulbright Fellow in farm forestry in New Zealand. More than 100 articles, books, and special reports document his work. He received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan.

The John Gray Fund for Excellence was established by school alumni and friends to strengthen programs of forest resources and conservation, and to promote their integration into the larger university community. The fund honors Professor John Gray, a former director of the School of Forest Resources and Conservation from 1963 to 1977.

Gray and Bentley will be available for informal discussions during a reception following the lecture in Rooms 121-123 of the Reitz Union. For more information, please contact the School of Forest Resources and Conservation at (352) 846-0850.

-30-

0