Research

Tourism studies pioneer to present retrospective and prospective views

Jafar Jafari with Penn State doctoral student Moji Shahvali during a conference in Turkey. Jafari will speak at Penn State on Friday, Nov. 7. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jafar Jafari, an international pioneer in tourism studies, will present his retrospective and prospective views on tourism studies at 3:45 p.m. on Nov. 7 in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library on the University Park campus.

Jafari is founding editor of Annals of Tourism Research, the first publication of its kind, which is still considered the most prestigious journal in tourism studies. He also is the founding president of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. He is a professor of hospitality and tourism at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Jafari will discuss why it is important to study tourism, the challenges in developing new theoretical frameworks, and the role culture plays in tourism research.

"There is no person who has made a greater contribution to the field of tourism studies and this is an especially rare opportunity to hear from a scholar whose career spans the entire history of the discipline,” said Carter Hunt, assistant professor with the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management (RPTM).

RPTM, the Travel and Tourism Graduate Student Association and the Iranian Tourism Scientific Association are sponsoring the event.

Penn State doctoral student Moji Shahvali secured funds from the University Park Allocation Committee to meet Jafari at a conference in Turkey last year and to finance Jarfari’s visit to Penn State. Jafari and Shahvali share an Iranian heritage.

"Ever since I changed my major from civil engineering to RPTM for the continuation of my studies in graduate school, Dr. Jafari has been a role model for me,” said Shahvali. “It is very motivating to know a person with a similar background to me has reached such heights in this academic field and been so influential."

The event is part of an RPTM fall seminar series.

The event also will be available live at: http://tinyurl.com/ngqms34.

Last Updated January 9, 2015

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