DATE: October 31, 2007
CONTACT:
Brett Wright, (864) 656-3036
wright@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Ross Norton, (864) 656-4810
rnorton@clemson.edu
Sam Ham wins Everhart Award for environmental interpretation
CLEMSON, S.C. — One of the world’s leading scholars on environmental interpretation and communication was awarded the William C. Everhart Award during Clemson University’s annual George B. Hartzog Jr. Environmental Awards Program Oct. 23.
Recipient Sam H. Ham is director of the Center for International Training and Outreach and professor of environmental communication and international conservation in the University of Idaho’s Department of Resource Recreation and Tourism.
He was selected for the honor for his lifetime contribution to the field of environmental interpretation. He has authored more than 350 articles and led workshops in more than 40 countries. He is the author of “Environmental Interpretation,” the leading text on the subject. He also holds courtesy appointments as adjunct professor at Monash University in Australia and at Colorado State University.
Ham teaches graduate courses in interpretation, environmental communication, international issues in nature conservation and recreation and tourism management. His research has focused on travelers’ philanthropy, ecotourism, environmental communication, international issues in nature conservation and recreation and tourism management.
The Everhart Award is named for Bill Everhart, a field interpreter, researcher, administrator, author and creator of the National Park Service’s Harpers Ferry Center.
Everhart and his wife, Mary, honored Hartzog in 1978 when they made a financial gift to Clemson University’s PRTM department. That gift and other resources established the Hartzog Fund that allows the department to sponsor the Hartzog Lecture Series in Resource Management.
Established in 1966, Clemson’s PRTM department is one of the largest and oldest of its type in North America. The department has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the National Park Service and other federal and state land-management agencies.
The Hartzog Lecture and Award Series is in its 29th year.
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Clemson University is a public, land-grant university in Clemson, S.C. The university is committed to world-class teaching, research and public service. Approximately 17,100 undergraduate and graduate students study on the 1,400-acre campus. Students may choose from more than 70 degree programs offered through the university’s five colleges: Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; Architecture, Arts and Humanities; Business and Behavioral Science; Engineering and Science; and Health, Education and Human Development.