Sally Wier

Colorado, USA

Sally completed her MSc in Sustainable Mountain Development in 2017.  She found that the online, flexible scheduling of the programme easily allowed her to work while pursuing her graduate studies. The program also allowed her to focus her dissertation studies on Himalayan communities, and she was able to conduct field research in Nepal, which was an incredible experience, both in terms of gaining skills in research, as well as being a profound personal adventure.

After graduation, Sally worked for several years running outdoor stewardship projects on federal public lands in Colorado's San Luis Valley. She is currently the Conservation Manager at the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust in the San Luis Valley where she manages private land conservation projects, including groundwater conservation. She is also the President and co-founder of the non-profit The Small World USA that supports locally driven sustainable community development projects and girls’ education programs in Nepal.

20 April 2020:

Sally, has published a paper, based on her dissertation research with Prof. Martin Price, Programme Leader for the MSc Sustainable Mountain Development.

The paper is in the open access peer-reviewed journal ‘Mountain Research and Development’. It looks at how girls in rural Nepal have reached higher levels of education - despite economic, social, cultural, and geographic barriers - focussing on the factors that create the foundation of educational success. This is in contrast to most previous papers that have focussed on the barriers. 

Since completing her research, Sally has joined forces with a Nepalese NGO by establishing the USA-based NGO ‘The Small World’, which continues to support girls in rural Nepal – including now, in the Covid-19 outbreak.