In March, a proposal for a tourism undergraduate degree program will be discussed at the monthly UW Board of Trustees meeting. In a joint effort between the College of Business and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism degree is a proposed interdisciplinary program for students that combines various aspects of natural resource recreation-based tourism.
Recreational tourism is the second largest industry in Wyoming, with mining and extraction being the largest. There are many attractions and activities in Wyoming, with national parks and other outdoor spaces that encourage hiking, skiing, mountain biking and other outdoor activities, making a tourism degree beneficial.
“Recreation tourism is the single largest employer in the state and it’s the second largest in terms of revenue and generation for the state, so it is incredibly important,” Dan McCoy, coordinator of the Natural Resources Recreation and Tourism degree program, said.
The process of advancing the proposed program involved research on other universities that have similar programs or discussing the nuances of the program’s exact curriculum.
“We created a faculty curriculum committee,” Steve Farkas, assistant Dean of the College of Business at UW, said. “Within that committee are representatives from both the Haub School and the College of Business, so that they could identify opportunities to satisfy the curriculum that the program has been committed to.”
The flexibility and uniqueness of the program would allow students to shape their own curriculum, using components of each of the four main concentrations in Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism: Recreational Resource Management, Outdoor Recreation Leadership, Cultural and International Tourism and Business management and hospitality.
“There’s a self-design option as well to this [the program],” McCoy said. “It’s like having a concentration that you make yourself, because there’s a certain segment or area of recreation and tourism that none of those concentrations necessarily address.”
According to the official briefing document provided by the College of Business and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the program’s vision is to, “Develop leaders and innovators to expand recreation and tourism in Wyoming and the region.”
With the program’s interdisciplinary requirements, the students will be prepared in their chosen field regarding natural resource recreation tourism. For example, students will be required to take both business courses and natural resource classes, instead of taking the business courses as additional electives.
The program is planning to have a “professional semester,” most likely in their senior year as a part of their Capstone, where they will work with people in this industry.
“When the student is finished with the degree, they come to the table with a well-rounded skill set that allows companies to look at them [the students] as an individual that they could use in cross-functional areas,” Farkas said.
