This award is made by the SWST in recognition of distinguished service to the profession as a whole. Such service may have been made in any educational, technological, scientific or professional area directly related to the profession of Wood Science and Technology in furtherance of the objectives of the Society as outlined in its Constitution and Bylaws.
The recipient of this award will receive an appropriate plaque to commemorate this event; life membership in the Society; and a citation in Wood and Fiber Science. When appropriate, they will be asked to deliver a presentation and paper on some aspect of their work or interests at a time and place to be agreed upon between the Executive Board of the Society and the recipient.
A call for nominations goes out January 1 each year from the Executive Director. A nominee for this award is required to be a member of SWST. The letter of nomination with justification not to exceed one page must be sent to the Executive Director by February 15 each year. It must be accompanied by a complete background of the nominee’s accomplishments, contributions, and services to the profession of WS&T as outlined above. These should be broad-based and substantial in nature as to render a nominee, if finally selected to receive this honor, to be a person of recognizable stature in the minds of the membership of the Society. This must be submitted in electronic copy. In general, recipients of this honor will be people who have reached high levels of attainment. However, age limits are not to be considered limitations of this award.
A committee composed of the five previous past presidents, with the Chair being the immediate past president, will function annually to examine the credentials of nominees worthy of this award and to make appropriate recommendations to the Executive Board based on their judgment. This committee can also function as a search committee, nominating candidates according to the above guidelines. Once the committee has the nominations, the Chair of the committee will then send all background documentation to all Past Presidents by email for their vote. The Chair will then transmit the recommendation of the Past Presidents’ Council to the Executive Board by March 1. The Executive Board is solely responsible for the final selection of the recipient of the Award and is not bound by the recommendation of the Council. However, the Council, being composed of past presidents of the Society, will have much historical background to offer and its recommendations should be carefully weighed by the Board.
If a person is nominated for the DSA and they serve on the Past Presidents’ Council, they should not vote on the nomination because of a conflict of interest.
Nominations for the SWST Distinguished Service Award (DSA) will be considered for three years following their submission to the SWST Office. If the nominee is not selected within the three-year period, updated nomination materials must be resubmitted for the candidate to be considered in subsequent years.