Associate Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology, Penn State
My interests lie at the intersection of environmental anthropology and the anthropology of tourism. I utilize ethnographic methods to conduct field research on the impact of tourism on biodiversity conservation, sustainable community development efforts, and rural livelihoods around parks and protected areas. I have conducted fieldwork related to these interests in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Tanzania.
I also leverage an interest in conservation psychology into research on the ways that travel to nature-based destinations influences one’s subsequent pro-environmental behavior, including conservation-oriented travel philanthropy.
At Penn St. my teaching corresponds to these interests. The on-campus and field courses I have taught focus on nature-based tourism, social and environmental sustainability, community development, the environment, and qualitative research methods.
Experience
2019–present
Associate Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University
2013–2019
Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, Pennsylvania State University
2009–2012
Postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Anthropology, Stanford University
Education
2009
Texas A&M University, PhD
2003
Texas A&M University , MS
1997
University of Kentucky, BA
Grants and Contracts
2020
Migrant worldviews and emergent ecological knowledge
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
National Science Foundation
2019
Tourism and the Human Relationship to The Environment: Galapagos Islands as a Microcosm
Role:
PI
Funding Source:
Fulbright Scholar Program
2018
NRT-INFEWS: Landscape-U, Impactful partnerships among graduate students and managers for regenerative landscape design