1. Coming to Oregon State University

PART I

FEBRUARY 19, 1979 INTERVIEW

(Interview conducted by Royal Jackson and Jennifer Lee at Peavy Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon)

1. COMING TO OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Let's start from when you first came to Oregon State University. Was that as a student or were you a faculty member when you first came here?

William A. Davies: No, I came here, from working for Weyerhaeuser, as an Associate Professor of Forest Engineering in 1946. In 1951 I was promoted to full professor and head of the department. In 1959 the chore of forest manager was added, and in 1973 I was retired. That's a quick history of my time here. (laughter)

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: How did you happen to hear about the job here? Who asked you to come here as a professor?

William A. Davies: Well, I had a master's degree in logging engineering from the University of Washington. I think there were only two or three or four in the world at that time. I think there weren't too many. And McCulloch, who later became dean of the school, here, was working for the state forestry department while the enrollment was down during the war, and I had some dealings with him because he was handling one of the conservation acts for the state and I was handling Weyerhaeuser lands in northern Oregon and southern Washington. He decided to come back to the school when the war was over- students started coming back - and he asked me if I would be interested in coming to Oregon State because in five years the department head's job was going to be open and they didn't have anybody in line to fill it. I said, "Well, I don't think I can afford to." But about six months later he saw me and he handed me an application and said, "Put it in. It won't cost you anything." So I did, and then Paul Dunn, who was dean, met with me and told me what they could do. I think at that time he offered me an assistant professorship and $3,800.00 a year.

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: How did that compare with your Weyerhaeuser salary?

William A. Davies: I think I was getting - well, we had a bonus at Weyerhaeuser that amounted to about $5,800.00 or $6,000.00 a year, plus expenses. I said, "Gee, I can't afford to do that." About a couple of months later he came back and said he'd talked to President Strand and they now offered me an associate professorship and I think $4,800.00 to come here. So I accepted to take a cut in salary, much to the disgust of my wife. But, we had one child and expected more, and I thought a small college town was one heck of a good place to raise children. It was small then, 10,000 or 12,000.

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: What had been your connection with Corvallis prior to that? Had you lived here?

William A. Davies: No, I'd been here once or twice in my life only.

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: Where did you get your undergraduate degree?

William A. Davies: University of Washington. I got both degrees at University of Washington.

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: So this was in 1946. You and your wife, and son or daughter?

William A. Davies: One son at that time, and a couple of years later another son.

Royal G. Jackson / Jennifer Lee: What was Corvallis like when you moved here?

William A. Davies: Oh, a sleepy, little town; a small college town. As I remember, there were 12,000 people here, not counting the students, that's all.