Harvard University Renews Commitment To Sustainable Tourism Education

For Immediate Release


Burlington, VT, July 30, 2012 – Harvard University Extension School (HUES) has renewed its commitment to educating students worldwide in the field of sustainable tourism in 2012.  Megan Epler Wood, Faculty Member of the Sustainability and Environmental Management program, will lead her course for a third year both on campus and as a global classroom September-December 2012.
 
“Harvard has been in the vaunted digital teaching space for years now.  Distance education is so well done at Harvard that we are able to bring students in seamlessly from around the world and our lecturers can join us live via teleconference effortlessly,” mentions Epler Wood.
 
The course will continue to look at the major sectors of the tourism economy with leading speakers in each segment of the industry.  These sectors include the hotel and hospitality industry with Faith Taylor, Vice President of Sustainability & Innovation at Wyndham Worldwide; digital responsible travel marketing with Jenny Rushmore, Director of Responsible Travel atTripAdvisor.com, the cruise industry with Jamie Sweeting, Vice President of Environmental Stewardship of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and the ski Industry with Julie Klein, formerly Director of Environmental Affairs for Vail Resorts.  Other leadingspeakers work in environmental and carbon management of airports, as well as destination stewardship and green economy development in the Caribbean and Latin America.
 
Epler Wood has won commendations for two years running from the Dean of Harvard University Extension School for quality teaching and in 2011 she won an award from the student body as well.  She has committed herself to growing the program and has found the teaching environment at Harvard to be unparalleled.
 
"This program is available worldwide and the class can be taken whether or not you are a degree student," Epler Wood points out.  "There are many more ways to use this distance technology for training in our field and we plan to begin to pursue that."
 
Epler Wood is working with the Sustainability and Environmental Management Department to review opportunities for direct training and conferencing in sustainable tourism and the green economy via Harvard’s unparalleled distance technology.  She will be moving ahead on these opportunities in 2013.
 
Registration runs from July 30- September 3.  Visit:http://www.extension.harvard.edu/registration

Course website: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k89067&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup148669