New Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism Head at Colorado State

Michael J. Manfredo has been named head of the department of natural resource recreation and tourism in Colorado State University’s College of Natural Resources.

Manfredo is founder and leader of the Human Dimensions in Natural Resources Unit at Colorado State. A specialist in the role of social science in natural resource management, he will continue to work with a human dimensions partnership between Colorado State and Colorado Division of Wildlife that attempts to serve as a model for how agencies can use social science information in making wildlife decisions.

Before coming to Colorado State in 1989, Manfredo held posts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Oregon State University.

Founding co-editor of the journal Human Dimensions of Wildlife, Manfredo has published widely in professional journals and has written a book, "Influencing Human Behavior; Theory and Applications in Recreation, Tourism and Natural Resources Management."

He earned bachelor and master’s degrees from Pennsylvania State University and received his doctoral degree from Colorado State.

The department of natural resource recreation and tourism was recently cited as one of the top two such programs in the country. Undergraduate enrollment in the program has tripled since the mid-1980s to a current undergraduate enrollment of 310 students. Eight faculty also instruct some 60 master’s and doctoral students. The department offers undergraduate concentrations in natural resource tourism, interpretation and parks and protected area management as well as research and outreach programs.