Professer Emerita
School of Travel Industry Management, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Pauline J. Sheldon is Professor Emerita, University of Hawai’i where she also served as Dean. She is an innovative educator with a wide range of research interests in tourism. Her current research includes regenerative tourism and the design of transformative tourism experiences. This overlaps with her lifelong fascination with the growth of human consciousness. She recently edited a special issue of Journal of Tourism Futures on “Transformation and the Regenerative Future for Tourism”. Her seven books include “Wellness Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit, Place” and “Social Entrepreneurship in Tourism: Practices, Principles and Philosophies”. She has worked with numerous international organizations such as United Nations World Tourism Organization and the World Bank, and was the first woman President of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. She is passionate about transforming tourism education, and co-founded the Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) whose mission is to educate changemakers for tourism. In Hawaiʻi she serves on the Advisory Board of Hawaiʻi Green Growth, and the United Nations Local2030 Islands Network for Regenerative Tourism. She also teaches meditation and breathing practices with the Art of Living Foundation, and is an accomplished weaver.