RPTM Kudos and Announcements July 8, 2008
Congratulations Alumni
Kelly Repass ’87 (Kelly.Repass@SeaWorld.com), previously Director of Research with the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau, is Director of Marketing Research for Busch Entertainment Corporation.
Gyan Nyaupane PhD ’04 (Gyan.Nyaupane@asu.edu), Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, won an award for his research in Nepal from the Travel and Tourism Research Association on June 17 in Philadelphia.
Congratulations Students
Yasong Wang and Tomas Rista were awarded Tourism Cares scholarships for 2008.
The PGA of America reported that Penn State’s Professional Golf Management program has the highest graduation rate and lowest attrition rate of any PGA accredited golf management program.
Congratulations Faculty
Deborah Kerstetter and Kelly Bricker PhD ’98 (kelly.bricker@health.utah.edu), Associate Professor at the University of Utah, presented a paper to the Travel and Tourism Research Association on June 17 titled, "Using resident-employed photography to document tourism as a dimension of sense of place." Alvin Yu, doctoral candidate, also presented a paper at the conference.
Patty Kleban’s article “People feel pain of being excluded,” about exclusion and disability, appeared in the Centre Daily Times Sunday Life on June 22. Read it here.
Hui (Jimmy) Xie, Deborah Kerstetter, Duarte Morais and Christine Buzinde won the Best Illustrated Paper Award from the Travel and Tourism Research Association, June 17 in Philadelphia for their paper titled, "Examining the effect of perceived information usefulness and ease of use of a destination website on perceived enjoyment and intention to visit."
Congratulations Staff
Jeanne Korman, longtime PGM staff assistant, retired on June 27. Jeanne worked in RPTM for nearly 20 years and will be sorely missed by faculty, staff, and students.
Darla Houseman was hired as PGM staff assistant on July 5. Previously, Darla worked as a staff assistant for Learning and Performance Systems in the College of Education.
Departmental Happenings
This summer saw the birth of two RPTM babies: Delia Ann Virginia Wilkes, daughter of PGM Director Burch Wilkes and wife Jennifer, born Friday, June 20 at 7:46 am and weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces; and Mitchell Lane White, son of program staff assistant Krista White and husband Ron, born on Friday, July 4 at 9:41 am and weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces.
In the News
The June issue of PGA Magazine highlights the PGM program’s second annual "Golfapalooza,” in which PGM students grow the game of golf by spending a day playing with over 130 local middle school children at area golf courses. This marks PGM’s 4th PGA Magazine article in two years.
Notable Quotes
“Just wanted to tell you that [our intern] Lauren Richards is AWESOME! She’s smart, resourceful, friendly, fun and a very hard worker. Anyone who wouldn’t hire her would be crazy. We just love her!!” -- Diane Bloom, Director of Development, Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts
If you have accomplished something you would like to share with the RPTM crew, please notify me. Also, if you are aware of accomplishments or quotes by our alumni, students, or staff, please let me know so I can share the news. Thank you! – John Dattilo, Professor and Department Head jxd8@psu.edu