College of Natural Resources and Environment Dean Paul Winistorfer to retire

Paul Winistorfer, dean of the College of Natural Resources and Environment since 2009, announced his retirement, effective fall 2025. Winistorfer is the third dean to serve the college since its founding in 1992.

Winistorfer started his nearly 40-year career in higher education at the University of Georgia and continued at the University of Tennessee, where he held roles in teaching, research, and administration. He came to Virginia Tech in 2001 as head of the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, today’s Department of Sustainable Biomaterials. Upon retirement, Winistorfer will have been dean for 16 years, making him the longest-serving dean in the college’s history and currently the longest serving dean at Virginia Tech.  

“As a first-generation, self-supported college student whose grandfather emigrated to the United States from Prussia through Ellis Island in the late 1890s and ended his formal education after grade six, I’ve benefitted beyond any expectation I could have ever had as a young student to experience the gift of higher education and our land-grant system of universities in this country,” Winistorfer said. “I’ve lived the Beyond Boundaries vision that is foundational to supporting students at Virginia Tech.”

Winistorfer fostered a culture of forward-looking innovation at the college, creating innovative and successful degree programs alongside student initiatives. In 2010, Winistorfer sought to rename the college from the College of Natural Resources to the College of Natural Resources and Environment to better portray its body of work and mission. Two departments — sustainable biomaterials and fish and wildlife conservation — also were renamed to align with a vision of continued progress.

“Under Paul’s leadership and his commitment to Virginia Tech’s land-grant mission, the College of Natural Resources and Environment has enhanced its distinction among similar programs across the nation," said Executive Vice President and Provost Cyril Clarke. "It has been a pleasure working with him during my time as a dean and as provost, and I am grateful for his support and service to the university. I congratulate Paul on his retirement and wish him all the best.”

Today, the College of Natural Resources and Environment is home to degree programs only offered in the commonwealth at Virginia Tech. Undergraduate enrollment in the college has more than doubled during Winistorfer's time as dean.

Growth of the faculty increased more than 50 percent during Winistorfer’s tenure, adding new expertise in instruction and research. College research expenditures have doubled since 2009 to nearly $23 million in 2024. The college has raised more than $37 million in philanthropic support during that time.

Alongside faculty and college leaders, Winistorfer helped create new degrees in fields such as meteorology, water resources, sustainable biomaterials, and packaging systems and design along with modernizing existing degree programs.

In 2010, Winistorfer and Professors Steve McMullen and Brian Bond, associate dean of Virginia Cooperative Extension, Outreach, and Engagement in the college, founded the college’s Student Leadership Institute as a co-curricular learning experience for students. Now in its 15th year, the Leadership Institute is funded with private gifts from donors and friends of the college enabling students to participate in the two-semester sequence, including a week-long trip across the commonwealth visiting leaders in state and federal government, nongovernment organizations, and private industry.

The Virginia Department of Forestry headquarters in Charlottesville is the traditional first stop for the Leadership Institute’s week-long trip. The visit from the students is an annual highlight according to State Forester Rob Farrell.  

“It has been an honor to get to work closely with Dean Winistorfer and to experience some of the energy and passion that he brings to leading the college,” Farrell said. “The last 15 years have been transformative for the college, and Paul leaves the College of Natural Resources and Environment poised for continued growth.”

Other successful initiatives spearheaded by Winistorfer were to establish the college’s own biannual career fair, the position of director of employer relations, and the Advising Center, which was recognized as a University Exemplary Program in the spring of 2024. Since 2016, the college has been recognized three times with this award for excellence for departments and programs.  

Winistorfer secured support for an endowed lecture series named for honorary founding dean John Hosner as a way to continue the legacy of Hosner’s vision to establish the College of Forestry and Wildlife in 1991-92.  

“We are so fortunate to have our forestry, forest products, and wildlife stakeholders engaged in the life of this college – which has made all the difference to our impacts and success,” Winistorfer said.  

The inaugural Hosner Distinguished Lecture will take place in February 2025, which also coincides with the 100-year celebration of forestry at Virginia Tech and coincides with what would be Hosner’s 100 birthday.

The College of Natural Resources and Environment is a leader in forestry and forest products research and education, serving a sector that contributes $23 billion to Virginia’s economy while employing hundreds of thousands of people. This is vitally important to a state that has 63 percent of its land area forested. The college also significantly contributes to fish and wildlife resource conservation and management at state, national, and international levels.  

The undergraduate meteorology degree is the only undergraduate meteorology program in Virginia and has grown from its 2012 inception to be one of the largest enrolled programs in the nation and is among the leaders in graduation in terms of underrepresented students.   

A new approximately 26,000-gross-square-foot facility for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation is currently under design. This new building in Center Woods will include labs, offices, storage, meeting rooms, and space for fieldwork. It is fully funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia with support from university leadership and Virginia’s Agency 229. In 2015, the college also funded and built a 16-bay research aviary.

“Ever since I met Paul Winistorfer in 2001, I’ve seen an unwavering consistency in his integrity and character,” said Ken Morgan, chairman of the Morgan Lumber Company, Inc. “His impact on the college in the last 23 years has been remarkable. I am proud to call Paul a friend and wish him nothing but the best in retirement.”

Winistorfer supported the development of the Master of Natural Resources degree program and established the Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability in 2014 to train environmental and sustainability leaders. The program now has 200 students and offers online and executive formats. As part of the program, more than 700 participants have traveled abroad to explore global issues.

Since 2009, Winistorfer has delivered the annual State of the College address to reflect on the college’s achievements and the future. He has continued the annual spring commencement tree planting tradition, with many trees around Cheatham Hall being part of this tradition. In 2022, he proposed and helped establish the Sesquicentennial Grove Planting to mark Virginia Tech's 150th anniversary.

Winistorfer is a fellow in the International Academy of Wood Science and has received several awards, including the Distinguished Service Award from the Forest Products Society, the President’s Award from the Virginia Forestry Association, and the Larry Hilchie Award for his work with WoodLinks USA. He is a U.S. patent holder for an optical device to measure thickness swell of wood-based composites and received recognition for technology development from the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation, as well as launched a successful start-up that manufactures instrumentation for the forestry and forest products sector.  

“I have been fortunate to experience the passion, commitment, and impact of our faculty and alumni of this college,” Winistorfer said. “The college is exceptionally well positioned for continued success and is needed today more than ever to meet the challenges ahead. I thank my colleagues for what they do each day. I am surrounded by brilliant, hard-working, creative people who foster a student-centered, research-intensive culture in the college.”