Faculty member seeks Wyoming-Scotland connection

By
Vicki Hamende, Senior Editor and Writer
Office of Communications and Technology

        If Sonya Meyer has her way, University of Wyoming fashion and merchandising students may soon develop an international connection.

            Meyer, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, is establishing a partnership with the School of Textile and Design at the Scottish Borders Campus of Heriot Watt University in Galashiels, Scotland, that she hopes will lead to a student and faculty exchange program.

            Funded by UW and College of Agriculture international travel grants, Meyer spent several days at the Galashiels campus during the summer learning about the school’s concentrated modules of study focusing on textiles, fashion, design, coloration, finishing, and marketing.

            By the time they achieve their third-year diploma and fourth-year degree, students at the Scottish institution will have designed and displayed an entire line of clothing and researched and produced an economic business plan and management program to promote their creations.

            “They were interested in our consumer focus and interior design courses,” Meyer says. “For the most part, though, our programs mirror one another well.  In some cases we might concentrate on something they just introduce and vice versa.”

            She talked with students who had assembled large three-dimensional portfolio presentation displays of their product lines. One had created environmentally friendly beachwear while another designed gowns for celebrities. One exhibit showed brassieres and lingerie for women with small frames and large cup sizes. The art of origami in apparel design was the feature of another display.

            Meyer was impressed with the fact that representatives from businesses and industries were on hand to help the students launch their careers. She would like to incorporate some of the ideas she observed into distance programs and capstone courses in her department.

            “I think our two schools would make a good match and that our students would be very comfortable in Scotland. Many of the faculty and staff members there were also interested in a possible exchange program with us,” Meyer reports. She hopes to host a faculty member from Galashiels soon.

            “UW has a goal of establishing a relationship with every English-speaking institution around the globe,” she adds. “I’m happy to have developed these contacts so that our students have this option if they want to study abroad for a semester.”

             An “avid believer in educational travel,” Meyer has taken several groups of UW students to England and Italy.

            “There’s a change that takes place when young adults are exposed to other cultures and career opportunities,” she notes. “It produces positive results in how they relate in the classroom and approach their work.”

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