NOLS Hosts Second Annual Faculty Summit

 LANDER, WYO — Nearly 200 outdoor educators, experts, and specialists will converge on Lander, May 15-17. Over those three days, they will examine topics ranging from communication and technology in the backcountry to Wyoming flora. This meeting of minds is the second annual National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Faculty Summit.

The purpose of the Summit is to provide professional development to NOLS faculty and build community in a fun, challenging atmosphere. After last year’s inaugural Summit, NOLS deemed the event invaluable and set out to make it an annual gathering.

“The NOLS Faculty Summit is an opportunity for faculty to gather as a large group and celebrate our achievements, but, more importantly, it is our opportunity to discuss our challenges, exchange ideas, pass along wisdom, and learn from our peers to continue to achieve our mission to be the leader in wilderness education,” wrote NOLS Risk Management Director Drew Leemon in the first page of the event’s program.

The schedule is packed with practical workshops led by NOLS senior faculty on topics such as lightning, presentations by experts on topics like human-bear interactions, roundtable discussions on matters like sustainability and students’ sexual orientation, culminating with a closing party Thursday evening.

“The high quality of folks that are speaking and putting on workshops and forums” is the most exciting aspect of this year’s forum for Faculty Summit Coordinator Lauren Crewnshaw.

She added the event is an opportunity for NOLS instructors to come from all over the U.S. and world to share ideas, expand their knowledge base, and get inspired for the upcoming summer season.

Founded in 1965 by legendary mountaineer Paul Petzoldt, NOLS is the leader in wilderness education, providing awe-inspiring, transformative experiences to more than 15,000 students each year. These students, ages 14 to 70, learn in the wildest and most remote classrooms worldwide—from the Amazon rain forest, to rugged peaks in the Himalaya, to Alaskan glaciers and Arctic tundra. Graduates are active leaders with lifelong environmental ethics and outdoor skills. NOLS also offers customized courses through NOLS Professional Training, and the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS is the leading teacher of wilderness medicine worldwide. For more information, call (800) 710-NOLS (6657) or visit www.nols.edu.