Nancy G. McGehee

Biography

Nancy Gard McGehee is the R.B. Pamplin Professor in Hospitality and Tourism Management,  Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech. Recognized in 2023 as a top 2% scholar according to SCOPUS in Sport, Leisure and Tourism over her career (https://www.elsevier.com/icsr/icsrlab), her research and teaching emphasis has been on innovation in community-centered tourism development, domestically and internationally. Nancy has received the Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Excellence in International Research, is a Fulbright Specialist Program Awardee, and was cited as an Outstanding Woman in Travel Research by Women in Travel and Tourism International (WITTI). She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Travel Research alongside Professor Jim Petrick of Texas A&M and currently serves on the Travel and Tourism Research Association Board of Directors.

Research

Research Areas

• International Tourism Development, including transformative and regenerative tourism
• Volunteer Tourism
• Sustainable Tourism
• Intersectionality of race, class, and gender, including the Black Traveler in America

Research methods

• Appreciative Inquiry
• In-depth interview analysis
• Content Analysis
• Ethnography
• Community Capitals Analysis

Publications that best represent my research

• Tucker, C., McGehee, N.G., and Harrison, A.K. (2023). Black Travel through the Lens of Legitimacy. Annals of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103524 (accepted 10.5.22).*
• Moayerian, N., Stephenson, M., and McGehee, N.G. (2022). Community Agency, Cultural Development and Sustainable Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103355 (accepted 11/11/21).*
• Simpson, S., Rahman, I., and McGehee, N.G. (2022). Breaking Barriers for Bangladeshi Female Solo Travelers. Tourism Management Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2021.100932.
• Soulard, J., McGehee, N.G., Lamoureux, K. and Stern, M. (2021) Transformative Tourism: Tourists’ Drawings, Symbols, and Narratives of Change. Annals of Tourism Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2021.103141 (accepted 1/7/21) *
• Soulard, J., McGehee, N.G, and Knollenberg, W. (2020). Developing and Testing the Transformative Tourism Scale (TTS). Journal of Travel Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520919511 (accepted 3/4/20)*
• Knollenberg, W., McGehee, N.G. and Perdue, R., and Andereck, K. (2020). We’re All in This Together: Understanding How Tourism Advocates Build Relationships across the Tourism Industry. Journal of Travel Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520906216 (accepted 12/18/19)*

* Pamplin elite list journal

Teaching

Undergraduate

• HTM 2454 Travel and Tourism Management
• HTM 3484 Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism

Graduate

• HTM 6434 Theories in Hospitality a Tourism Management

PhD Supervision

• Charis Tucker
  
• Dini Hajarrahmah

Professional Engagement

Conferences

• Travel and Tourism Research Association International Conference (TTRA)
• World Travel and Tourism Council summit (WTTC)

Professional Experiences

• Co-editor, Journal of Travel Research, Pamplin Elite Journal 
• Editorial Board member, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2008-2021
• Editorial Board member, Journal of Travel Research, 2004-2021
• Associate Editor, Annals of Tourism Research, 2013-2021
• Awards Judge, Tourism Cares for Tomorrow, 2019
• Member, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), 2018-19
• Review Board member, Destinations International Accreditation, since 2018
• Board of Directors member, Via International, San Diego CA/Tijuana Mexico, 2013-2018
• Board of Directors member, University of Fondwa (UNIF-USA), Haiti, 2012- 2015
• Committee member, Voluntourism Advisory Committee, The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), International Voluntourism Guidelines Project, 2010-2012
• Advisory Board member, Good Travel.Org, Wellington, NZ, since 2015
• Member, Travel and Tourism Research Association(TTRA), since 1991

Education

• PhD, Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 1999
• MA, Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 1995
• MS, PRTM, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
• BA, Sports Marketing and Management , Marshall University, Huntington, VA

Background

Honors and Awards

• Best Qualitative Research Methods Paper Award, TTRA Conference, June 2021
• Outstanding Woman in Travel Research, Women in Travel and Tourism International (WITTI), April 2017
• Fulbright Specialist Awardee, Portugal, May 2015
• Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Excellence in International Research, 2014

Grants

• McGehee, N.G., Tucker, C., and Braford, B. (2021) “Online Allies? Exploring the Black Travelers Perspective on the Legitimacy of the Tourism Industries Racial Injustice Advocacy Initiatives”. ICTAS Diversity and Inclusion Seed Investment Grant. $20,000. Awarded November 2021, implemented January 2022-July 2023.
• McGehee, N.G. and Perdue, R.R., Enhancing the Competitiveness of the Virginia Tourism Industry Contract Extension. Virginia Tourism Corporation ($83,508), 2010
• McGehee, N.G., Magnini, V., and Perdue, R.R. Enhancing the Competitiveness of the Virginia Tourism Industry:  A Blueprint for Strategic Planning and Development, Virginia Tourism Corporation ($56,536), 2009
  
• McGehee, N.G. and Perdue, R.R., Feasibility Study for a New River Valley Regional Tourism Organization.  Virginia Tourism Corporation. ($50,000), 2008
  
• Perdue, R.R., Understanding Market Sensitivity to Lift Ticket Prices at Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts, Inc. Broomfield, CO ($26,576), 2007

Recommendations

Destination

• Destination: New York, New York. As they say in the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” it’s the greatest city in the world!

Food & Drink

• Anything from home