- Associate Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology, Penn State
My interests lie at the intersection of environmental anthropology and the anthropology of tourism. I utilize ethnographic methods to conduct field research on the impact of tourism on biodiversity conservation, sustainable community development efforts, and rural livelihoods around parks and protected areas. I have conducted fieldwork related to these interests in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Tanzania.
I also leverage an interest in conservation psychology into research on the ways that travel to nature-based destinations influences one’s subsequent pro-environmental behavior, including conservation-oriented travel philanthropy.
At Penn St. my teaching corresponds to these interests. The on-campus and field courses I have taught focus on nature-based tourism, social and environmental sustainability, community development, the environment, and qualitative research methods.
Experience
-
2019–presentAssociate Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University
-
2013–2019Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, Pennsylvania State University
-
2009–2012Postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Anthropology, Stanford University
Education
-
2009Texas A&M University, PhD
-
2003Texas A&M University , MS
-
1997University of Kentucky, BA
Grants and Contracts
-
2020Migrant worldviews and emergent ecological knowledge
- Role:
- PI
- Funding Source:
- National Science Foundation
-
2019Tourism and the Human Relationship to The Environment: Galapagos Islands as a Microcosm
- Role:
- PI
- Funding Source:
- Fulbright Scholar Program
-
2018NRT-INFEWS: Landscape-U, Impactful partnerships among graduate students and managers for regenerative landscape design
- Role:
- Senior Personnel
- Funding Source:
- National Science Foundation
Professional Memberships
- Society for Applied Anthropology
- American Anthropological Association
- American Association of Geographers
Contact Carter for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
- Location: University Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Website
- Article Feed
- ORCID
- Joined