Sarah Jackson, PhD

Biography

Through her professional and academic pursuits, Dr. Jackson has been blessed with pivotal opportunities to engage in a range of research efforts, such as evaluating and addressing visitor-use management within parks and protected areas (PPAs) broadly. Spanning from Virginia to Alaska, these experiences assisted in the progression of her passion to implement proactive, thoughtful, and creative measures regarding natural resource protection through not only research initiatives, but through teaching capacities as well. Specifically, these captivating experiences assisted in the refinement of her primary teaching and research interests.

Concerning teaching, student success and empowerment is of the utmost importance. Therefore, Dr. Jackson desires to continuously evolve to foster a welcoming, engaging learning environment which employs active methods to enliven course content and elevate its transferability to help students apply their expertise in both academic and professional realms. Further, Dr. Jackson strives to inspire students to recognize and affirm their passion(s) to help them realize the powerful role they play in not only protecting our priceless natural resources as impactful stewards, but as the positive, invaluable spirits they are in society.

Regarding research, Dr. Jackson has focused on varying topics (i.e., influence of religious beliefs, nature-based tourism, place attachment, types and degrees of visitor use, etc.) in consideration of the human-environment connection. While she aims to fervently partake in research which entails multifaceted goals and objectives, she is specifically interested in understanding how faith, religion, and spirituality bring forth in situ and ex situ outcomes in consideration of dynamic relationships which are initiated and progressed with the environment. Through these focuses, she desires to ultimately explore how subjective, ethereal, foundational, significant, and often indescribable aspects of life influence the overarching environmental mindset of individuals.

Education

• PhD Kansas State University, Park Management & Conservation, 2021
• MS Western Illinois University, Recreation, Park & Tourism Administration, 2017
• BS North Carolina State University, Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Biology: Wildlife Science, 2015
• BS Minor North Carolina State University, Zoology, 2015

Research

Faith, religion, and spirituality concerning the human-environment dynamic, tourism (e.g., nature-based tourism), visitor-use management concerning parks and protected areas and associated processes (e.g., place attachment, stewardship, etc.), environmental education, interpretation, and human dimensions of natural resources.