March 11: Conversations with Tom Ward, Hospitality Entrepreneurship Center, and Mark Milstein, JGSM Global Sustainable Enterprise Program

Kalay Mordok, LGI co-founder and Board chair, and I met for over an hour with Tom and Mark in the HEC Statler suite.

Purpose of meeting:
1) to introduce LG's vision for creating an upscale Eco-Lodge that would provide lodgings, impetus for eco-tourism planning, and on-going internships for Cornell students;
2) to explore possibilities for students from these two programs joining the program in connection with their studies

Tom and Mark have been working together for several years to develop and try out Hotel/JGSM project-oriented, consultative courses. For around $10K, a company could work with 4-6 students, supervised by two faculty members, on specific projects serving the host company.

With grant support ending, they now are exploring ways to integrate such a course with on-going teaching loads. Student interest in sustainability is growing rapidly, as is industry interest, but there is no faculty line to meet the need. Looking ahead, they would like a fundamentals course followed by a practicum integrated with student degree programs.

With respect to Level Green, Tom and Mark saw the potential for students to make a significant contribution - and for Level Green's vision to success. An analogous example is the Farm Institute on Martha's Vineyard, which combines a working, income-generating farm with lodging and program facilities.

The Dean of the Hotel School is increasingly interested in projects that benefit nonprofits. To this end, Tom and Mark invited us to come up with 5-10 concrete project ideas that students could work on. These ideas should be bundled under themes such as strategic vision, feasibility analysis, partnership/alliances, marketing/communications, management, financing. The goal would be to begin compiling a reservoir of on-going opportunities for students that would expose them to something new, and enable them to see what it takes to get from vision to actual operations.

No timeline set.

FOLLOW-UP THOUGHTS:
* query County Strategic Tourism Board re eco-tourism plan, other salient project ideas
* ask Planktons for suggestions
* develop Level Green vision statement with priority projects that students could address