The University of Guelph and the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management are preparing to welcome approximately 60 international delegates to the eighth Tourism Education Futures Initiative Conference (TEFI8) from June 4 to 7. This year’s theme, “Transformational Learning: Activism, empowerment and political agency in tourism education” is in keeping with TEFI’s mission to push boundaries, think creatively and inform and support tourism educators and students to transform the world for the better.
The conference will feature five notable speakers including College of Business and Economics Dean Julia Christensen Hughes [1] who will speak on Pedagogy, (Higher) Purpose and Practice: Views from a Dean and Educational Scholar. Other speakers include:
Chris Castro, co-founder of IDEAS (Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions). He will lead participants through "The Hive", a workshop of concrete initiatives for making change happen.
Dr. Tazim Jamal, Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University. Her research and outreach interests lie in the areas of sustainable tourism development, multi-stakeholder collaboration and community involvement in tourism planning, and justice.
Johnny Edmonds, Secretariat Coordinator for the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA). He is also a traditional owner in Aotearoa NZ and the Owner/Director of a NZ-based consulting company that specializes in Indigenous economic development.
Anna Pollock, a change agent, strategist, visionary and international speaker. She is also a TEFI advisory board member and founder of Conscious Travel.
Hosted by Professor Marion Joppe [2] and Associate Professor Statia Elliot [3] from the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management [4], the conference will aim to open up debate and break down traditional divides: research-practice, teacher-student, university-‘real world’ and business-community. Participants will learn by example, be future-oriented and leave inspired to become leaders of tomorrow’s tourism education programs or industry.
