Jim Lassoie completed his BS (’68) and PhD (’75) at the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle. Before joining the department as an assistant professor and NY State Cooperative Extension Forester in 1976 he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Missouri—Columbia. Originally trained as an ecologist and tree physiologist focused on North American forests, he began transitioning his research to address interdisciplinary community-based natural resource management and international development in the mid-1980s, work that intensified while he held mid-level academic administrative positions between 1988 and 2002. He was appointed an International Professor in 2002 and has been primarily teaching and advising students in international conservation and sustainable development since. During his career Jim advised over 100 graduate (MPS, MS, PhD) and undergraduate students doing research and development projects in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Canada, and the United States. He did extensive research and teaching in China for over 20 years in collaboration with numerous Chinese scientists and graduate students. Lassoie has published over 180 research articles, books, book chapters, proceedings, and abstracts, and over 90 extension/outreach articles, reports, and bulletins. He developed several innovative courses focused on engaged learning and was widely recognized for his dedication to student mentoring. For these efforts he was awarded the Louis and Edith Edgerton Career Teaching Award (2012), Regional USDA National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching, Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship in Service-Learning (2015), and Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Award (2016).
Jim retired at the end of 2020 but manages to continue a few activities related to his past professional life. He remains a member of the Graduate Fields of Natural Resources and Global Development where he advises an occasional MPS student. Jim lives on 220 wooded acres near West Danby with his wife, Dr. Ruth E. Sherman, who is also retired from the department, and their yellow lab Bertie and Bubba the cat. He enjoys photography and has a modicum of published and displayed photographs.
