Education and Outreach Events
The Don’t Pack a Pest for Academic Travelers Program offers research, outreach, and engagement opportunities to support the learning, collaboration and community building for our Community of Partners and our Academic Traveler Student Ambassadors and the overall Academic Traveler audience. The events we offer include professional development and networking opportunities for faculty and administrators, student focus group workshops, student education abroad seminars, international student orientations, guest presentations, and tabling events.
Recent Events:
Ecological Society of America Exhibit and Poster Session: Aug 6-11, 2023. The Oregon Sea Grant Don't Pack a Pest for Academic Travelers Program hosted an exhibit in partnership with the Texas Department of Agriculture. Over 4,000 scientists attended the conference, and at least 300 visited our exhibit. Many faculty and practitioners lead study abroad programs and international research and can utilize DPAP to educate their own colleagues and students about safe and responsible packing. We also presented a poster summarizing our research and outreach for Academic Travelers.
Study Abroad Seminar: Invasive Species in the Caribbean and the Role of the International Traveler. December 1, 2022. Presented to a cohort of students traveling to Bahamas to study the ecology of coral reefs, this presentation highlights pests of particular concern in the Caribbean such as the Giant African Land Snail and the red palm mite, and both prohibited and well as items that you CAN bring with you. The presentation utilizes the example of the invasive lionfish to understand the delicate ecology of coral reefs and allows students to understand each person’s individual responsibility to prevent the spread of invasive species and take actions to protect the resources we enjoy and depend on.
Miami University Education Abroad Fair, September 26, 2022. Traveling-minded students learned about safe packing practices at the Miami University Education Abroad Fair on September 26, 2022. Mark Hitchcox, Plant Health Safeguarding Specialist at USDA APHIS was there to meet students and answer their questions. “I had some great interactions with students, who had many good questions, took away some fun items, …and hopefully took away some new ideas about packing.” It is estimated that 250-300 students attended the event.
Responsible Travelers Forum. August 8, 2022. Convened leadership from our Community of Partners and Agency Partners for an informal conversation around the importance of “responsible travel”. 16 Institutional and Agency Partners participated.
Lunch and Learn with San Diego State University Office of Global Education, July 19, 2022, introduced the Don't Pack a Pest for Academic Travelers Program to institutional leaders at the SDSU international programs.
Academic Traveler Ambassador Tabling Event. May 23, 2022 Academic Travelers at OSU planned and improved on another educational table in a high traffic area of Oregon State University Campus. Over 140 students stopped by to learn about how we can protect our natural resources and our food supply by packing responsibly.
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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