SCU APPOINTS TWO NEW TOURISM PROFESSORS

Southern Cross University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Rickard, has announced two new Professorial appointments in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management: Dr Dick Braithwaite, to a Chair in Sustainable Tourism, and Dr Neil Leiper to a Chair in Tourism Management.

The Vice-Chancellor said Dr Braithwaite, formerly a CSIRO senior principal research scientist, and Dr Leiper, the School's director of research and a staff member since 1992, were nationally and internationally recognised in their complementary fields of regional tourism and tourism management.

The appointments underlined a strong and dynamic future for both the School and the University, Professor Rickard said.

Dr Dick Braithwaite, who will relocate to SCU's Lismore campus from Canberra in June, has a strong interest in environmental aspects of tourism research, particularly in relation to regional Australia. For the past six years he has been the inaugural coordinator of tourism research across the CSIRO. Earlier, he spent almost 20 years researching conservation and national park issues, including tourism, in northern Australia. This involved leading a number of large projects and running the CSIRO's tropical ecosystems program.

He has published some 140 scientific papers and reports on topics across biology and tourism. His current research interests include carrying capacity, visitor management systems, tourism futures and public policy, regional tourism systems, wildlife tourism and nature tourism in protected areas. Prior to the CSIRO, Dr Braithwaite worked with the National Museum of Victoria, the University of Calgary, Monash University and the University of Queensland.

Dr Neil Leiper has been teaching courses in tourism studies and strategic management and is currently supervising five PhD researchers. His chief research themes include investigating and explaining behaviour, patterns, structures, trends and change in tourism. He has written two widely used texts on tourism management and co-authored, co-edited and contributed chapters to others.

Dr Leiper is on the editorial board of four research journals and has written several influential articles on aspects of tourism. He won a "Literati Award" in the UK in 1999 for the most outstanding article in the refereed International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Prior to joining Southern Cross University, Dr Leiper was a senior lecturer with Massey University, NZ and worked in Sydney in a range of industry and commerce positions.

* Digital photos are available on request

For further details, please contact Ms Kate Benecke, 6626 9114 or Mr Robin Osborne.