Learning a matter for life say graduates
Tom Sweatman is among a select group poised to reshape Canada's future wood industry. He's one of the first 10 graduates to earn a UBC Bachelor of Science in Wood Products Processing from the Faculty of Forestry.
Its graduates are in extremely high demand by industry and Sweatman has just accepted a challenging position representing Canadian furniture giant, Palliser, in Asia.
"It's a dream job when you consider that I want to work in the wood business on a global scale and see the world," says Sweatman, who will be one-half of a team with fellow graduate, Alexander MacKenzie.
"Asian exports have transformed the North American wood products market and we will act as an international sourcing team," he explains. "We want to find new opportunities in Asia to export furniture components, finished goods and new materials."
The five-year undergraduate degree includes at least 20 months of carefully selected work experience and Sweatman is no stranger at Winnipeg-based Palliser. He completed a four-month and eight-month work term at the company, which is among the top 10 furniture manufacturers in North America.
He also completed four-month work terms with NASCOR, a prefab housing company based in Calgary, and Primex Forest Products in Delta.
"I've had first-hand experience from the plant floor right up through senior management," says the Winnipeg native.
"I wanted a focused work-study program which directly applied science to the real world," says Sweatman, who heard "good things" about Wood Products Processing while he was enrolled in second-year Science at UBC.
"The faculty is flexible, industry-driven and keep their office doors open," he adds. "They frequently gave us opportunities to help develop the curriculum."
An example of what makes the program special is a course which featured an international expert in facility design from Germany, Sweatman says.
There were no lectures. Instead the class was divided into groups with each expected to design a plant and present the project to would-be investors.
"It was a capstone class and a very intensive three weeks which included weekends and lots of late nights," says Sweatman.
"An innovative, hands-on approach to wood products processing is evolving to fill a strongly perceived national need," says John McLean, acting dean of Forestry. "Tom Sweatman is an example of how our graduates will take better advantage of Canada's wood supply and create new opportunities in the global marketplace."