CORVALLIS, Ore. - The OSU College of Forestry has named three alumni as Outstanding Alumni for 2012, a recognition of their professional accomplishments and inspirational leadership.

Recognized were John Murphy, Jr., of Medford; Dennis Dykstra, of Portland; and Andrea Thorpe, of Corvallis.

Murphy, a 2003 forestry graduate with a bachelor's degree in wood technology and minor in business administration, is considered an early career award winner. After graduation he joined Murphy Veneer to learn production from the arrival of logs at the mill, and now oversees Murphy Companies' southern region.

Dykstra earned his bachelor's degree in forest engineering in 1966, and later returned as an instructor in the college and earned a doctorate in industrial engineering. He went on to teach at three other universities, including one in Tanzania. In his career in global forestry and global forest conservation, Dykstra served as director of the World Forestry Center in Portland, director for the International Center for Forestry Research, and forestry officer for the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization. He was also a member and leader in the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.

Thorpe graduated from OSU with a bachelor's degree in natural resources in 1998, then earned her doctorate from the University of Montana in 2006. She has worked for the Coast Range Association, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and is currently the conservation research program director at the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis. Her research focuses on the restoration and conservation of native species and habitats.

The 2012 Outstanding Alumni will be recognized at the College of Forestry Spring Awards Ceremony on May 31, 2012 at the CH2M Hill Alumni Center Ballroom on the OSU Campus.

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