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Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s new Institute for Applied Sustainability will team with Travel Â鶹´«Ã½ Oregon and its statewide counterpart, Travel Oregon, to host a sustainable tourism training seminar on April 2, 2023, in Portland, Oregon, for travel industry professionals. The session is an opportunity for Â鶹´«Ã½ to build its reputation as a respected and influential resource in Oregon for those interested in sustainable tourism.

Pavlina McGrady, an Â鶹´«Ã½ associate professor with the School of Business and fellow in the Institute for Applied Sustainability will join Travel Oregon research coordinator Ladan Ghahramani as instructors for the training session. Participants will become the first cohort of Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Sustainable Tourism Practitioner Training program as they learn about the future of sustainable tourism through a day-long schedule of interactive lectures, and local and international case studies. There will also be a review of Travel Oregon’s 10-year strategic plan.

The session – from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 2, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon – will serve as a lead-up to the three-day Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism, which begins at the convention center the following day. The sustainable tourism session is limited to 60 participants, and is sold out. The initial training session on Sunday is funded by a $10,000 strategic investment grant from Travel Â鶹´«Ã½ Oregon. A second training session, to be scheduled in May or June in southern Oregon, will likely be paid for by the Institute for Applied Sustainability.

The Â鶹´«Ã½ institute was created last fall as part of an historic,  and its GreenCars division. The two largest elements of the gift are a $5 million scholarship fund and $4 million to establish the Institute for Applied Sustainability, which will collaborate with Lithia on projects including a national sustainability conference, an academic credential in corporate sustainability and a national sustainability demonstration site.