Who We Are

Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program at the University of Northern Iowa originated in Hawaii at the School of Travel Industry Management at the University of Hawaii. The program is now in its fifth year at UNI. The Project Director moved the project to the University of Northern Iowa. We are presently preparing plans and surveys for a number of projects in Iowa. UNI offers the only tourism degree and tourism certificate program among the Iowa Regents Universities. The mission of this program is to build the cultural, social and environmental relationships in the tourism development process and to use sustainable practices in the process. We utilize students in the proposal writing, data collection, data entry, and reporting phases of each project. Students gain training, a stipend, and the client receives a first rate research product at a very reasonable cost. Students are supervised by professional Project Managers and faculty who have over 25 years experience in conducting these types of projects for public, private, and non-profit organizations in Hawaii, the U.S. mainland, and other countries. STEP Coordinators Sam Lankford, Director of STEP at UNI has a Ph.D. in Tourism Planning and Development. He also holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree. Both of these degrees are from the University of Oregon. He holds a Master of Arts in Recreation and Park Planning and a BA in community planning from CSU-Chico. Sam Lankford has been a practicing planner in both staff and consulting roles in California, Oregon, and Hawaii. He has conducted over 60 market research studies in those states and other countries. He specializes in tourism and recreation development. Jill Lankford, Research Coordinator of STEP at UNI has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon. She has conducted numerous studies and tourism development plans for small towns in Oregon. Oksana Grybovych is an assistant professor of tourism at the University of Northern Iowa. She holds a Master of Science degree in Leisure and Environments from the University of Wageningen (the Netherlands), and a BA degree in Economics/ Management from the Institute of Economics and Law (Ukraine). Currently she is completing a dissertation on tourism planning in small communities.

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