BoT Report, October 2018

NIA REPORT

SEAN WILLIAMS, NIA PRESIDENT

NOLS INSTRUCTOR ASSOCIATION

OCTOBER 2018

NIA MISSION

NIA’s mission is to communicate and advocate instructor views and to work within the NOLS community to promote the school’s mission and values.

Like many others around the school, we on the NIA Board of Directors are wrapping up a busy summer season of working in the field, personal trips, and preparing for more courses in the fall.

The NOLS Summit in May was an exciting time to gather with instructors and hear input across the school. This year’s summit generated discussion about topics that were both stimulating and challenging. At our Annual General Meeting at the summit, we were pleased to welcome more than 35 instructors to a discussion of priorities and goals for the coming year and a number of instructors becoming Lifetime Members. One notable outcome of that meeting was the decision to draft a plank on inclusion to add to the NIA’s platform, which is in progress now. The plank aims to support NOLS’ efforts at diversity, equity, and inclusion and

demonstrate our support for making NOLS a place where everyone feels valued and respected.

We look forward to having several NIA board members present at the upcoming Wilderness Medicine Staff Meeting, which will have taken place by the time this report is published, as we continue to support both faculty who teach only wilderness medicine courses as well as crossover staff. In that vein, we applaud the recent agreement between wilderness medicine and expedition Staffing departments to not de-prioritize instructors who teach wilderness medicine courses in the summer for first-round shoulder-season work.

We look forward to seeing you all in Lander in October. Thanks, as always, for everything that you do for NOLS, to make all the magic that happens in the field and the classroom possible. The faculty have the deepest appreciation for your support.