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Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management
Primary fields of interest: Tourist Mobility, Destination Management, and Tourism Planning and Development
Committee Chair: Dr. Svetlana Stepchenkova
Email: yutingan@ufl.edu
Yuting An is a Ph.D. student and a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management at the University of Florida. She received her bachelor’s degree in international business back in China and her master’s degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management and MBA from Clemson University. Her primary research interests include tourist mobility, destination management, and tourism planning and development. The overall goal of her research is to use multiple-sourced data to investigate tourist movement patterns in different contexts. Specifically, by understanding tourist mobility patterns, she hopes to provide destination management organizations some insights on building better infrastructure, allocating resources and creating attractive tourism packages to match tourists’ needs. Also, she hopes that her research can help major tourist destinations to address their overtourism problems and build a community that both tourists and residents enjoy. To reach her goals, she has been studying tourism planning and data-intensive techniques.
Primary fields of interest: Youth Development, Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors, Youth Programming, Environmental Justice, Sustainable Event Management, and Ecotourism
Committee Chair: Dr. Heather Gibson
Email: bblassneck@dce.ufl.edu
Brianna Blassneck, CMP is a Graduate Assistant within the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and currently instructs Convention Sales and Service for the residential and UF Online sections. Completing this graduate program will make Blassneck a triple-gator as she has earned her B.S. and M.S. at UF in Recreation, Parks and Tourism. She obtained the Certified Meeting Professional designation in 2019 and Virtual Event and Meeting Management Certification in 2020 following the impacts of COVID-19 on the events industry.
Primary fields of interest: Event Experience, AI & Virtual Events, Entrepreneurship in the Events Industry, and the Impact of Service Quality
Committee Chair: Dr. Rachel Fu
Contact: rayven.g@ufl.edu
Rayven Crisafulli, CMP, CMP-HC is a Ph.D. student, Graduate Teaching Assistant, and Event Management Instructor in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Management at the University of Florida. Rayven graduated summa cum laude from UF with her bachelor's in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism, with a specialization in Event Management in 2013. She then began her career as an event planner within UF’s Department of Continuing Medical Education. During her time there, she planned and executed the logistics of over 80 medical education events held throughout the US and abroad. She also obtained her CMPCertification and her CMP-HC Certification. In 2019, while still working at UF, she opened her own wedding planning business where she helped design, plan, and manage the weddings of couples in the Gainesville area. After spending 7 years as a full-time event planner, Rayven returned to her alma mater to pursue a career in teaching and research.
Primary fields of interest: Tourist Mobility, Destination Management, and Tourism Planning and Development
Committee Chair: Oscar (Hengxuan) Chi, Ph.D.
Email: shizhen.jia@ufl.edu
Shizhen (Jasper) Jia is a Ph.D. student in in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management at the University of Florida. The overarching goal of his research is to help individuals understand the benefits and risks of adopting advanced technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence) in the hospitality and tourism domain. Moreover, he has been intensively trained in quantitative methods (e.g. lab and field experimental design, survey, and econ analysis), qualitative methods (e.g. focus group, case study, and interview), and analytical approaches (e.g. multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, surface response analysis, and big data analytics). He has several publications, including such outlets as Computer in Human Behaviors, Information Technology & People, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, British Food Journal, International Conference on Information Systems, and others.
Primary fields of interest: Event Participation and Planning Focused on Tourists and Host Communities
Committee Chair: Dr. Heather Gibson
Email: dahyejung@ufl.edu
Dahye Jung is a Ph.D. student and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management at the University of Florida, working with Dr. Heather Gibson. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Tourism Development and worked at a research institute for five years, participating in research projects related to community development. Her research aims to improve the quality of life for both tourists and host communities within the tourism context. To achieve this goal, Dahye focuses on the perspectives of both visitors and residents, and studies events and festivals to engage diverse individuals in tourism activities. Currently, her research interest is small-scale local events, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore motivations and experiences related to event participation. Working with her academic advisor, Dr. Heather Gibson, Dahye is studying sport event participation among mid and later-life adults and sustainable events strategy.
Primary fields of interest: Community Sustainability via Tourism, Econometric and Geospatial Approach
Committee Chair: Dr. Jin-Won Kim
Email: jiwoo.jung@ufl.edu
Jiwoo Jung is a Ph.D. student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Department of Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Management at the University of Florida, working with Dr. Jinwon Kim to further her research goals. With a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Tourism, Leisure, and Recreation, her passion for tourism stems from her belief that it is a crucial social phenomenon that promotes cultural exchange and enriches people's lives.
As a dedicated tourism scholar, her ultimate goal is to understand and promote the crucial role of tourism, leisure, and recreation in creating active, resilient, and sustainable communities. Her research interest is sustainable local community development through tourism, utilizing geospatial and behavioral economic methodologies to comprehensively address all triple bottom lines of sustainability. Her primary focus is addressing sustainability challenges in local communities, employing a geospatial and econometric approach. Currently, she is studying the relationship between community gentrification and peer-to-peer accommodation, which undermines the community's sustainability. Her research is critical in providing insight into sustainable tourism and community development.
Jiwoo is highly committed to conducting research that contributes to community sustainability. She is passionate about advancing her field and strives to lead the forefront of innovative research.
Primary fields of interest: Mindfulness & Tourism, Wellbeing in Tourism, Qualitative Research, Religion & Tourism
Committee Chair: Dr. Yao-Chin Wang
Email: yuelu@ufl.edu
My name is Darcy. In general, I have passions in tourism wellbeing. I used to serve as a key member of the executive team in a unprofitable NGO in Africa. As the project manager of “The Scholarship Program” and “The International Free Lunch Project,” I planned and executed the project in Kenya. I interviewed with residents living in Mathare Slum, helped training international volunteers in Africa, devoted myself to build up connection among the communities. Besides, I have a number of fieldwork experiences in a small island and remote village in China. Along with all my personal work experience or field experience before, I experienced people’s suffering and pains as well, reflecting not only the wish to change but also the incapability along with empathy, compassion, chagrin, and confusion. There I better understood “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” from For Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne, “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.” Therefore, beyond doubt, in my mind, how to create a safe and supportive culture that allows everyone from all walks of life to live and grow, and take care for the whole mankind is my big mission. I hope I could be a good educator and academic researcher in the future.
Primary fields of interest: Cruise Tourism, Pricing, Tourism Marketing, and Quantitative Marketing
Committee Chair: Dr. Rachel Fu
Email: tpan1@ufl.edu
Tianyu (Bell) Pan is a Ph.D. student and a graduate research assistant in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management at the University of Florida (UF), working with Dr. Rachel Fu. She received her bachelor's and master's degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management in the United States. During this period, she also worked in both industry and academia. The overall goal of her research is to improve companies' marketing and operation strategies by analyzing data. To achieve this goal, Tianyu (Bell) has studied quantitative modeling and tourism marketing. Currently, her main focus is on cruise tourism research and pricing and revenue management in hospitality operations. In addition, she is interested in applying mathematical models and geospatial methods to hospitality and tourism to minimize risks, optimize profits, and predict demands.
Primary fields of interest: Recreation and Parks with an emphasis on Place Attachment Theory
Committee Chair: Dr. Heather Gibson
Email: roeja@ufl.edu
Joshua has worked as a practitioner in the industry for around 10 years before deciding to pursue his PhD. He used to run a company providing guide services for rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, and hiking in Kentucky. However, his guiding trajectory is not restricted to the southeastern US: he has also guided in Mexico, Alaska, Canada, Korea, and Ecuador, as well as in various national parks around the US. Besides guiding, Josh is fluent in Spanish and has taught English and Spanish in South Korea for two years and taught at a private institution in Spain.
So far, Joshua has co-authored two publications, one while on his MA degree and the other one while on his PhD. The most recent study was conducted in collaboration with other departments at UF and explores vector-borne diseases explored by ticks in Florida.
Innhoo Baek
Taylor Blackwell
Seungji Cindy Lee
Yifeng Liang
Jennifer Roberb
Zhonhgyi Liu
Tim Williams
Ece Zivrali
Zixuan Xu
Yiran Yan
Tizi Luo
Whit Nelson
Serly Susanti Penton
Abbot Pittman
George M Pollis
Kingsley Isaac Raitt-Eguakun
Emily M Sasso
Joseph Schaefer
Robert Seawick
Chelsea Ray Seymour
Stephanie Skitko
Daniella Clarice Smook
John Brandon Taylor
Lauren Elizabeth Tope
Caryn Tumer
Tiffany Leigh Webster
Tim Williams
Xiaochen Liu
Xiaoying Liu
Abdullah Aldhafyan
Mohamad Alharthy
Fahd Almoair
Safwan Abdualwahab Alqadri
Jomana Fayed Assolamy
Victoria Bradley
Ashtyn McKayla Brown
Lauren Robin Brown
Richard Chase Brown
Allison Maala Causing
Ka Kei Choi
Sam Denny
Ling Ding
David Doeker
Megan DSouza
Whitlee Paige Flynn
Dominique Constance Granja
William Carl Harrdon
Tyler Henderson
Ellie Higgins
Michael Izzo
Kali James
Mei Ju
Ryan Kabilian
Rahul Kumar
See where their PhD has taken them!
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Primary fields of interest: Educational Tourism, Cross-Cultural Understanding, Student Development, Tourist Experience
Committee Chair: Dr. Heather Gibson
Primary fields of interest: Tourism resilience
Committee Chair: Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray
Dissertation topic: The relationship between corporate social responsibility and branding in the hospitality industry
Primary fields of interest: Internal and external marketing strategy in the hospitality industry
Committee Chair: Dr. Svetlana Stepchenkova
Courses taught:
LEI 3360 Hospitality Management (Spring 2018)
LEI 3360 Hospitality Management (Fall 2017)
LEI 3360 Hospitality Management (Spring 2017)
LEI 3360 Hospitality Management (Fall 2016)
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