Professional history of Romi Rancken since 1988
1988
Was appointed Acting principal at Ekenäs College of Forestry in July.
1989
Worked as Acting principal. Initiated the development and participated in the writing of the first ”independent” curriculum for forestry workers at the college.
Visited Kalimantan, Indonesia and some forestry projects there.
Part-time studies at Helsinki University.
1990
Full-time studies at Helsinki University from autumn.
1991
Forestry study tour to Cyprus. Full-time studies continue. Took several courses (10 credits) on subjects concerning development countries and tropical forestry.
1992
Full time MSc-studies at Helsinki University continue until May, when assigned a post by the Forestry Training Programme (FTP) as Forestry Teachers’ Training Specialist in the SADC countries, stationed in Zambia. The duties consisted of coordinating the activities of a one-year long forestry teachers’ training course in Luanshya, Zambia, with participants from various SADC countries.
1993
The work in Zambia continues. Due to cuts in the Finnish development aid budget, the job description was changed to include the post as Forestry Training Specialist at Zambia Forestry College.
Participated in arranging a pedagogical workshop in Botswana.
1994
The work in Zambia continues. Participated in arranging a pedagogical workshop in Mozambique.
The two year work period in Southern Africa included professional visits to Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Returned to Finland in May when was appointed the post as head of the Forestry Department at Naturbruksinstitutet (formerly Ekenäs College of Forestry). In charge of the development and implementation of a new 160 credits curriculum for Forestry Engineers.
1995
Work as Head of Department and participating in college development.
President of the Ekenäs Environment Society.
1996
Work as Head of Department and participating in college development.
Arranged and lead a forestry study tour in the Baltic Sea states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark.
President of the Ekenäs Environment Society.
1997
Studies at Helsinki University continue part-time while working as Senior lecturer at Sydväst Polytechnic. Initiation of a EU rural development project with a FIM 800 000 budget for which later project leader (included in post as lecturer). The project in question emphasized on new, integrated methods for resource planning for private farm and forest owners. The project has a cross-sectoral approach and uses participatory methods.
Member of the Project Group for Pedagogical Development in Sydväst Polytechnic.
Member of the Project Group for Developing an Monitoring Quality in Sydväst Polytechnic.
Appointed person in charge of implementing a student registry data base (WinhaPro) at Sydväst Polytechnic during 1997 and 1998.
Collected field data for Master’s Thesis.
President of the Ekenäs Environment Society.
1998
Studies at Helsinki University continue part-time while working as Senior lecturer at Sydväst Polytechnic. Half-time work as person in charge of implementing a student registry data base, half-time as Senior lecturer, project leader of the EU project mentioned earlier and course coordinator for and lecturer at a further training course for forestry engineers dealing with environmental issues (Tapion metsänluonnonhoidon tutkinto).
Member of several working teams at the polytechnic; Pedagogical Development Group, working team for developing Problem Based Learning on the Internet and the group for development of a Staff Policy Programme.
Initiated the development of an international module for Polytechnic Sydväst which would emphasize on integrated rural development in developing countries and appointed chairman of a group which plans for the implementation of the module.
Assigned the post as Head of Study Programme for the Study Programme for Environmental Management at Sydväst Polytechnic in August.
Participated in a concert tour in the United States in June as a member of a male choir. Visited the University of Minnesota’s Department of Forestry during the tour.
1999
Duties and extra-curricular activities as before.
Finalized Masters Thesis in June. The thesis deals with soil properties of farm lands planted with oak seedlings. This was part of a research project funded by the Finnish Forest Research Institute and the Foundation for Forest Tree Breeding.
Member of the recently founded group that will assess and monitor the environmental impact of the activities of Sydväst Polytechnic and develop more environmental friendly processes and routines.
The Certificate of the Degree of Master of Science in Agriculture and Forestry is signed 12th of October 1999.
2000
Duties as before.
Participated in a course over the Internet on Ecological Modelling by the Polytechnic University of Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain).
Participated in a 2-week forestry study tour to Portugal arranged by the Agricultural University in Sweden.
Begun post-graduate, part time studies at the Department of Forest Ecology at Helsinki University in September. The studies aim at a doctoral degree and the research questions are related to decision-making in field conditions and to the connection between forestry education and the decision-making of the trained, professional forest engineer.
2001
Duties as before, studies continue.
Participated in a 2-week forestry study tour for post-graduate students to Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France arranged by the Agricultural University of Sweden.
2002
Duties as before.
Did a short-time consultancy for FTP International concerning the pre-completion evaluation of Palawan Tropical Forest Protection Programme, an EU-funded programme in The Philippines. Appointed team leader (part-time) of an EU-funded project concerning sustainable multiple-use forestry in the costal area of Southwestern Finland.
