Virginia Tech – Nepal Memorial Center for Excellence

Virginia Tech partnership with Yale University and Principia College to establish the Memorial Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the Institute of Forestry in Pokhara, Nepal 

Year: 2007-2010

Granting Agency: Higher Education for Development (HED)

Cooperative Agreement #: USAID AEG-A-00-05-00007-00 (through HED)

Grant Amount: $400,000

Location: Nepal 

In Nepal, a country about the size of Arkansas with a population of 28 million, forests harbor unique biodiversity and play a vital role in the economy of rural communities. Virginia Tech, together with Yale University and Principia College, is working to create a center at the Institute of Forestry that will promote excellence in forestry research, education and outreach. The center is also important in another way: It will be a living, breathing memorial commemorating the loss of 24 individuals actively involved in conservation who were killed in a helicopter crash in September, 2006. As Nepal is the birthplace of community forestry—the practice of organizing the use of forest resources around the needs of a community—there seemed no better place to site the facility. 

Mission and Vision:

The Memorial Center for Excellence will strengthen the capacity of the Institute of Forestry to educate Nepal’s future professionals in forestry and natural resource conservation. These conservation leaders of tomorrow will bring Nepal closer to its goals of biodiversity conservation, environmental sustainability and healthy, productive human communities. 

 

Objectives for the three-year partnership:

  1. Establish the Conservation Leaders Memorial Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the Institute of Forestry

  2. Strengthen the professional skills, knowledge and teaching effectiveness of Institute of Forestry faculty and staff

  3. Improve career and academic advising, and other support for students

  4. Develop and implement programs to ensure the inclusion and success of disadvantaged groups including women and students from remote areas

  5. Ensure the sustainability of the Center of Excellence

Virginia Tech faculty involved in this effort are: Tom Hammett, professor of wood science and forestry products, Robert Kenny, senior project associate, OIRED, Maria Elisa Christie, director of Women in International Development, and SK De Datta, director of OIRED.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Tom Hammett meets with high-level administrators of Tribhuvan University.
 

  

 

 

 

 

Faculty from the Institute of Forestry discuss the establishment of Nepal Memorial Center for Excellence.

 

  

 

 

 

Maria Elisa Christie, Director of Women in International Development, and Professor Mike Rechlin of Principia College visit the Institute of Forestry (IOF) campus at Hetauda.
 

  

 

 

 

 

Maria Elisa Christie at the entrance to the forest nursery on the IOF - Hetauda campus.
 

 

 

 

 

Nepal is home to a wide range of natural resources, including the spectacular Himalayan range.

 
 

  

 

Tom Hammett and Maria Elisa Christie meet with administrators of Tribhuvan University.

From left to right - Madhab Prasad Sharma, Vice Chancellor of Tribhuvan University; Tom Hammett; Soorya Lal Amatya, Rector; Maria Elisa Christie.