UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lauren Duffy has been named professor and head of the Penn State Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management (RPTM), beginning her role as department head on Aug. 1.
She arrives at Penn State from Clemson University, where she was an associate professor and undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. She also served as president of the faculty senate.
Duffy’s research is grounded within critical tourism, leisure behavior, cultural geography and sustainability studies. Her work has focused on a number of topics, including understanding how issues of equity and power play out in tourism development; rural and community-based tourism planning; tourism and conservation; local food systems and food socialization; leisure and technology; and resident-tourist relationships.
“I’m honored to join the RPTM faculty at Penn State,” Duffy said. “The caliber of scholarship is outstanding. Our interdisciplinary research not only has real-world applications to the management of parks, public spaces, protected areas, youth programs and destinations, but also intersects with the bigger social and environmental challenges of our time.”
Duffy has received recognition within the discipline at the national level for both teaching excellence and innovation as well as her research in issues related to the production of knowledge, critical thinking, global learning, transformative learning and internationalization.
She was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award and Innovation in Teaching Award from the Academy of Leisure Sciences in 2020. While at Clemson, she earned the Outstanding Journal Publication Award and Senior Tenured Outstanding Teaching Award from its College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences.
"Dr. Duffy has strong experience in all areas critical to RPTM leadership and brings with her an approach that is very much rooted in holding up the end-user perspective — whether that be the student in the classroom or the area resident who benefits from initiatives related to tourism and recreation,” said Craig J. Newschaffer, Raymond E. and Erin Stuart Schultz Dean of the College of Health and Human Development. “Our RPTM department is already recognized as a national leader, and I have no doubt that Dr. Duffy is the right person to enable our faculty, staff and students to further extend the impact this department has on campus and in the community.”
Duffy is currently a fellow with Tourism RESET, a multi-university and interdisciplinary research and outreach initiative that seeks to identify, study and challenge patterns of social inequity in the tourism industry. She previously served as a Clemson Critical Thinking Fellow, a Clemson Forward Fellow and a Charles E. Hartsoe Fellow with the National Recreation Foundation. She served as president of the Academy of Leisure Sciences from 2022-25.
In 2022-23, Duffy was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Saint Lucia, working at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in its Department of Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality. Her work during this experience examined the resilience of the tourism industry and how labor and tourism policy affects the well-being of workers in the informal tourism sector.
“Penn State has top-tier faculty in the classroom who emphasize hands-on, experiential learning and a faculty and staff who pour into their students as they work through their academic program and begin their careers,” Duffy said. “I have learned quickly that the strong reputation of the department is very much influenced by the quality of students we graduate into the field. I hope to build on these traditions of excellence while expanding and strengthening our portfolio of degree programs, engaging with alumni and industry partners, and growing our impact through research and outreach at the local, state, national and international levels.”
Duffy has delivered keynote addresses and led workshops on generational differences in the workplace to various agencies and organizations, such as the Connecticut and Delaware state park systems and the International Camping Fellowship Academy.
The South Carolina Sea Grant, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs are among those that have funded her research.
She earned a doctorate in leisure behavior from Indiana University in 2013 and a master of science degree in parks and recreation management from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2009.