Expanding His Horizons

Faculty, Arches

Professor Nick Kontogeorgopoulos studies sustainable tourism, has led the Asian Studies and Global Development Studies programs, and now has a new role: associate dean of experiential learning

Q: What first got you interested in studying tourism and development?
A: My interest grew out of my own experience. When I was a junior in college, I spent a semester studying in Australia, and after that, I traveled throughout Southeast Asia. Thailand immediately fascinated me. I was drawn to the contradictions of Thai society and trying to figure those out, and in doing so, I found a field that excited me, which is tourism and community development. I kept going back, and the more time I invested there, the harder it became to go anywhere else. That led to me studying community- based tourism companies that try to be sustainable and equitable. Beyond that, I love Thailand for all the reasons people love Thailand: The food, the landscapes, and the cultural setting are all incredible.

Q: What brought you to Puget Sound?
A: This was the first job I applied to when I was finishing my PhD in geography. It felt like a perfect fit. Here was an interdisciplinary position created to promote Southeast Asian studies, in a part of the country where I wanted to live, at a school that rewarded teaching effort. I didn’t have any liberal arts exposure before coming to Puget Sound, so the fact that the college was small and valued teaching so highly was really attractive to me—and it continues to make this a great place to work.

Professor Nick Kontogeorgopoulos likes to stay busy. When he isn’t researching the complexities of ethical international tourism, teaching courses in international political economy, or serving as the director of the Asian Studies and Global Development Studies programs, he’s traveling to Thailand to study sustainable tourism practices.

Q: A lot of your scholarship focuses on the environmental impact of tourism. How can we travel in ways that are sustainable?
A: Before the pandemic, tourism was a massive industry that was only going to continue to grow, and there were a lot of efforts to counter that or provide alternatives, which interests me. People try to find that one company or that one destination that’s going to be not so problematic, but nothing’s perfect. In my tourism course, we talk about making acceptable trade-offs. We have to accept that there is power embedded in everything we do, and there’s privilege in being able to travel to other parts of the world. It’s an understandable and admirable instinct to want to not be a part of the problem, but you also have to be realistic. Very often, that prevents people who are conscious about the social and environmental impacts from seeing the world, and it shouldn’t. You just have to make informed, thoughtful choices.

Q: You’ve started a three-year term as associate dean for experiential learning. How do you hope to impact the student experience?
A: The way I see experiential learning, it’s connected to the classroom, but takes place outside the classroom. It goes beyond just having an experience—it has to connect back to what you’re studying. There’s preparation, application, and then reflection. What did you learn? How can you build on it? How does it influence your path forward? It’s really all about connecting the experience to academic skills and knowledge gained in the classroom.

We want every student to have at least one of four high-impact experiences: internships; study abroad or study away; community-based learning; and summer research, scholarship, and creative work. These all enhance a student’s education—they connect students to the community and position them well to be able to contribute to whatever profession they want.

In my new role, I help bring together all aspects of experiential learning. I’m especially interested in expanding our study abroad and study away programs, because those can be so transformational. That’s really what we want to deliver at the university: transformational experiences. Students may discover an interest or a place that they want to be involved with for the rest of their lives. I want that kind of transformation to happen here.

Career and Employment Services is also part of that effort—the idea is to bring all of the offices providing these experiential learning practices together.

Professor; Associate Dean of Experiential Learning

Nick Kontogeorgopoulos

“I’m especially interested in expanding study abroad and study away, because those can be so transformational.”

Q: That makes sense—there are lots of different modes of learning outside the classroom, and certainly an internship is one of them.
A: Right. And, again, it’s not just about doing an internship. If someone does an internship and that’s it, did they get the most they could out of it? We don’t know. We can ensure it’s experiential learning by making sure they have some preparation before they go, then reflecting on what they’re learning as they do it, and then tying it all together when it’s done.

Q: Obviously, you’re very busy in this new role, but where are you planning to travel next?
A: Oh, that’s a good question. I have a lot of friends and family who live in other countries whom I would love to visit. I’d like to go back to Asia, though. There are a lot of places I haven’t been able to visit, but I’ve always wanted to: Japan, China, Vietnam. The trick will be finding the time—and hoping that we’ll one day soon be able to travel again post-pandemic.

Explore More Stories