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    Dec 03, 2024  
2024/25 UM UMM Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024/25 UM UMM Undergraduate Catalog

Parks, Recreation and Tourism


OVERVIEW OF DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Minimum number of credits required to graduate: 120

Minimum Cumulative GPA required to graduate: 2.0

Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward major: Students must earn a minimum grade of “C-” in all required courses having the SFR designator

Other GPA requirements to graduate: None.

Required Course(s) for fulfilling Capstone Experience: SFR 491 , SFR 492 , or SFR 493  

Contact Information: Candice Goyette, Student Academic Services Coordinator, 201B Nutting Hall, 581-4737, candice.goyette@maine.edu


Outdoor recreation is one of the world’s most diverse and fastest -growing industries. It is often intertwined within another worldwide growth industry, tourism.

The Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT) program and its concentrations are designed to provide students with training that will qualify them to work in a variety of work settings such as parks and protected natural areas, the public and private tourism sectors, nonprofit environmental organizations, conservation law enforcement agencies, as well as state and federal natural resource agencies. The PRT program emphasis on the integration of natural, social, and management sciences reflecting the interdisciplinary context in which recreation, tourism, natural resource planning, and environmental concerns are addressed.

Students interested in the study of Parks, Recreation and Tourism will find the program ideally situated in Orono, Maine, where you have easy access to the rocky coasts, and western mountains, to Acadia National Park, and Baxter State Park, to the Appalachian Trail, and to Maine’s nature-based tourism community. Visits to these sites afford students unique and exciting opportunities to observe and participate in on-going operations relevant to the profession. We frequently have guest lectures from the public sector and commercial recreational enterprises to acquaint students with the diversity of professional management issues and practices.

Our faculty, both full-time and cooperating, are unique in their extensive experience in the field as well as their national and international reputations. A wide array of academic experiences is available to students for enhancing education and employability including field experiences, study abroad programs, and working on research projects.  Field experiences are readily available in the region through many summer intern and cooperative education opportunities for valuable on-the-job-training experiences.

Small class sizes ensure student/professor interaction and a more personal learning experience. A faculty advisor works closely with students to assist in choosing a program of study, providing career counseling, and in providing a better understanding of the profession.

As with all programs in the School of Forest Resources, the PRT curriculum provides students with a solid grounding in natural resource management training.

Bachelor of Science in Parks, Recreation and Tourism

The program emphasizes the integration of natural and social sciences as an interdisciplinary context in which complex recreation, tourism, natural resource management, and environmental concerns must be addressed.

Parks, Recreation and Tourism is part of the School of Forest Resources which has the largest scholarship endowment fund on campus for an academic unit.  These funds are available to help support academic studies in Forest Resources.

Under the New England Regional Student Program, administered through the New England Board of Higher Education, the Bachelor of Science degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism is open to applicants who reside in Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island for reduced tuition.

Core requirements - 85 credits:


Directed Electives


Students need to take 21 credits of Directed Electives from the following list. The list is organized by specialty but students can take any combination of course from the list. Other courses can be used with advisor approval.

Also the requirement can be met by enrolling in any of the following minors or double majors:

Minors: Outdoor Leadership, Tourism Hospitality & Outdoor Recreation, Accounting, Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, Ecology & Environmental Sciences, Criminal Justice. No more than one-third of the requirements in a minor can include required courses from the Parks Recreation and Tourism curriculum.

Double majors: Forestry; Ecology & Environmental Sciences; Wildlife Ecology
The requirements can also be met by taking any combination of the following courses. Courses are organized by topic areas.

Care is needed to take the appropriate prerequisites for the higher-numbered courses. You may need to be enrolled in a minor to take some selected courses. Note: A course used as a second lab science course does not qualify as a directed elective.

Outdoor Leadership Specialty


(or ask about a minor)

Tourism Hospitality and Outdoor Recreation Specialty


(or ask about minor)

Other online transferrable classes available at other UMaine system campuses. Advisor approval needed.

Wildlife Conservation Specialty


(or ask about minor or double major)

General Elective Courses - 14 credits


Students need to take general elective courses that will bring the total credit hours to at least 120 credits.  One of these courses will need to satisfy the General Education Artistic and Creative Expression Requirement.

Required Courses in Suggested Sequence for the B.S. in Parks, Recreation and Tourism


Third Year - First Semester


Third Year - Second Semester


Fourth Year - First Semester


Fourth Year - Second Semester


Footnote


Note 1: A minimum of 3 credits are needed for General Education Requirements in a course with Artistic and Creative Expression.

Note 2: Students are recommended to take SFR 480 Wilderness and Protected Areas Management in their Junior Year if available.

Note 3: Students can replace SFR 491 with SFR 492 with advisor approval. A minimum of 3 credits are needed in SFR 492

Note 4: Directed Electives are listed in specialty categories above. Students can take any combination of the listed classes.

Note


Any student who receives a semester GPA of less the 2.0 or receives a Conduct Violation must meet the Director for Undergraduate Programs, School of Forest Resources, during the first week of the following semester to formulate an agreement on what the student will do to improve his/her record.  The agreement may require passing a 1 credit course on academic recovery.  The student must also meet with his/her academic advisor to review the course schedule for the coming semester.  Failure to meet these expectations may result in the student being dismissed from the program.