Updated at 2:11 p.m., Saturday, January 19, 2008
UH professor to head international tourism academy
Advertiser Staff
HONOLULU – Pauline J. Sheldon, professor of tourism and former interim dean of the School of Travel Industry Management at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, has been elected president of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, according to a UH news release. The organization consists of the top 75 tourism scholars in the world who help to further scholarly research and the professional investigation of tourism.Sheldon is the first woman president of this predominantly male group, which she will lead for the next two years.
"In collaboration with the executive team, I plan to leverage the most important asset of the group – its knowledge and expertise – to raise the profile and quality of tourism globally and identify research areas to provide better understanding of the complexities faced by today's society," Sheldon said.
The Academy was established in 1989 and meets every two years to discuss critical issues in tourism and to induct new scholars into the association after a rigorous nomination process.
Sheldon, along with IAST's founder, Dr. Jafar Jafari, also co-founded TRINET, an international virtual community housed in the TIM School that connects more than 1,000 tourism researchers worldwide.
Sheldon was first inducted into IAST in 2003. Other TIM School colleagues inducted into the Academy include professor Juanita Liu (2003) and Dean emeritus Chuck Gee (1989).
"Global tourism is rapidly changing and I intend to mobilize the knowledge and expertise of the Academy fellows to provide understanding and guidance for this vital and complex industry," Sheldon said.
