At the confluence of Wyoming’s stunning landscapes and the booming business of coming to see them lies an economic and educational opportunity for University of Wyoming students: the new bachelor of science in outdoor recreation and tourism management.
The ORTM degree is a collaboration between the College of Business and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources that aims to equip students with the knowledge and know-how to succeed in the tourism industry.
“The impetus for creating this degree largely rests on the fact that recreation and tourism is the second largest industry in Wyoming and there wasn’t a degree at UW that addressed that, helping that industry grow and diversify,” said Dan McCoy, professor at the Haub School and program coordinator for the degree.
Students can learn more about how the degree might fit with their academic and career goals at a free lunch and informational meeting on Friday Oct. 12 from noon to 1 p.m. in the College of Business room 129. McCoy hopes to attract 50 students to the degree this year and grow the program to upwards of 150 students in the next several years.
After receiving approval from the Board of Trustees in March, classes for the program began this fall. Course offerings include studies in recreation and tourism theory and practice, natural and cultural resources of the West, and customer service and hospitality as well as core courses from different departments on business, environment and natural resources, and people and culture. Students choose from five possible concentrations: business and hospitality management, management of recreation resources, cultural and international tourism, outdoor recreation leadership or creative studies in recreation and tourism.
Like the two other degrees offered by the Haub School — the concurrent major environment and natural resources and the popular environmental systems science degree — ORTM is interdisciplinary.
“It is about the natural resources but also about business, people and culture in recreation and tourism,” McCoy said. “The thing that gives Wyoming an amazing advantage in this area is the fact that we have such amazing natural resources here. It’s building up on that as foundation to develop businesses in this important sector.”
While business is a big component, the degree aims to emphasize using these resources to develop businesses in a sustainable way. That’s why the program is housed in the Haub School.
The new program is two years in the making. The Haub School had begun looking into creating a tourism degree when President Nichols met with various departments at the beginning of her tenure inquiring about the same possibility. Meanwhile, the Governor’s task force for expanding and diversifying the state economy was investigating how to grow Wyoming’s tourism sector while keeping young talent in the state.
The resulting program, McCoy said, “dovetails nicely with what we were already working towards as a way to support and grow this critical industry.”
In the process of creating the program, the university looked at 18 peer institutions and 21 similarly themed degrees. It also hired a private consulting firm to do a market analysis of supply and demand of these degrees in higher education, the robustness of employment in relevant industries and student interest. Coordinators administered a survey to employers and employees in the recreation and tourism industry and hosted listening sessions around the state to get input on the content of the degree. With feedback from businesses and the state’s Office of Tourism, a committee of faculty from different departments then put together a set of learning outcomes and a curriculum.
For more information about the degree, contact the Haub School at 307-766-5080 or haub.school@uwyo.edu, or visit UWyo.edu/haub/academics/undergraduate-students/bs-in-ortm.html.
