Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources is established in 1978 as Wondo Genet Forestry Resource Institute to train forest technicians. The College continued over past decades with progressive development and it is among the three Colleges that established Hawassa University (the then Debub University).

Currently, the College has 12 undergraduate (BSc), 13 MSc and 1 PhD programs organized under 12 departments. In addition to regular programs, CEP programs (week-end undergraduate programs by GIS and Land Administration & Surveying department, special summer undergraduate programs by Natural Resources Management department and MSc Summer program in 6 programs) are functional. Through strong attention given in staff development, the college has 171 academic staff (131 on duty and 40 on study leave). Within the current academic year (2019/20), the College is hosting 1425 regular (1175 BSc, 243 MSc & 25 PhD) and 678 CEP (517 BSc & 66 MSc) students.

On top of teaching and learning, the College is well experienced in conducting research and community service activities. There are 26 active research projects in the current academic year. Among these ongoing researches, 18 projects are supported by regular government budget while the remaining 8 are supported by different international collaborative projects.