UM Directory

Ever since I can remember, I have had a passion for conservation, wildlife, outdoors recreation, and travel starting with childhood explorations in the woods and my first trip to Africa. I am fortunate that my experiences have led me to a profession where I can research and teach in the field of park, recreation, and tourism management. Bridging my natural science background in wildlife and fisheries biology with my social science background in parks and conservation area management, my research focuses on four main areas: 1) stakeholder collaboration associated with large landscape conservation, 2) sustainable tourism and protected area management, and 3)  environmental education and community-based natural resource management

My work in large landscape conservation has addressed the challenges, opportunities, and outcomes associated with stakeholder collaboration and how these groups evolve over time in their transboundary ecosystem management. I have conducted work in the Southern Appalachians, the Crown of the Continent, and sagebrush ecosystems  in North America, studies networks of large landscape cosnervation and transboudnary conservation,  and have worked with students and colleagues in Patagonia, Ecuador, and the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area in southern Africa.

My work in sustainable tourism and protected area management focuses on the management of resources that balances the environmental, social/cultural, and economic needs of diverse stakeholders. I have explored unique types of tourism, such as voluntourism, as well as ecotourism, and cultural tourism. My work has taken place in the Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, the Flathead River System in addition to international locations such as Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru, India, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, and Brazil. 

Environmental education and interpretation has been a common thread throughout my career. Working at an environmental education facility and then at the South Carolina Aquarium, I recognized the importance of environmental education in reaching diverse audiences to gain support for conservation and encourage pro-environmental behaviors. In this field, I helped conduct an assessment of the most effective techniques and strategies used by interpreters in National Park Service units throughout the country. This area of study also encompassed a large part of my postdoctoral research, which explored how people in the San Francisco Bay Area learn about the environment and form their environmental values and how these aspects relate to sense of place and their participation in sustainable behaviors. I have expanded my work to community-based natural resource management and how different environmental values can inform support or conflict in conservation, recreation, and tourism management.

While I also am involved in other research projects, these are some of the main focal areas of my research and teaching. I am eager to work with students to help them fulfill their own passions in their future careers!

Education

Post-doc, Woods Institute for the Environment and Graduate School of Education: 2015, Stanford University

Ph.D. Park, Recreation, and Tourism Management: 2014, Clemson University

M.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Biology: 2007, Clemson University

B.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Biology: 2006, Clemson University

Current Position

Associate Professor of Park, Recreation, and Tourism Management

Courses Taught

PRTM 141: National Parks and American Culture

PTRM 150: First Year Seminar in Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Management

NRSM 374: Yellowstone Field Studies

PTRM 484: Capstone in Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Management

NRSM 594: Conservation and Social Science Graduate Seminar 

Research Interests

Large landscape conservation

Stakeholder collaboration

Ecotourism and sustainability

Interpretation and education

Sense of place and sustainable behavior

Outdoor recreation benefits and impacts

Linkage between health of parks and people

Transboundary wildlife conflict and management