Larry and Sharon Nielsen

The Nielsen Family Scholarship Endowment was established in 2001 by Dr. Larry and Mrs. Sharon Nielsen.

Dr. Larry Nielsen, Professor of Natural Resources, retired at the end of 2017, after more than 40 years of service teaching, mentoring and leading land-grant universities to the future. As new Professor Emeritus, he is taking more time to spend with his family and work on his writing. He is the author of several books, including Nature’s Allies: Eight Conservationists Who Changed Our World and Provost: Experiences, Reflections and Advice from a Former “Number Two” on Campus.

Before joining the College of Natural Resources as a faculty member and Dean of the College, Nielsen taught as a faculty member at Virginia Tech, where he worked his way up to Department Head of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. He also served as the Director of the School of Forest Resources at the Pennsylvania State University and in the U.S. Army in Vietnam as a military policeman and laboratory technician. Nielsen also lead NC State University as the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor from 2005-2009. After stepping down as Provost, he returned to the College of Natural Resources as a professor.

Always committed to natural resources education, Nielsen taught 16 different courses in his career, including honors seminars on special topics while serving as Provost at NC State. He received two Certificates of Teaching Excellence and The Diggs Teaching Scholar Award from Virginia Tech, and taught short courses annually for the U.S. Forest Service on communication skills. He was named an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in 2017.

Combining his expertise in higher education administration with sustainable resource management, Nielsen also held positions on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Science and the Environment, and World Forestry Center. He served on the USDA Committee of Scientists, where he recommended new approaches to land and resource management planning in the U.S. Forest Service. He was President of the National Association of University Fisheries and Wildlife Programs, President of the American Fisheries Society and co-chaired the First World Fisheries Congress in 1992 in Athens, Greece. Nielsen was a Kellogg National Fellow, a Fellow of the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists, and an Honorary Member of the American Fisheries Society. He received Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences Diversity Award and holds degrees from the University of Illinois, University of Missouri and Cornell University.