Destination Management
DSTM 600. Orientation. (0 Credits)
This course covers a mandatory orientation scheduled before the program begins. Attendance of this orientation completes the requirement for DSTM 600. The orientation will be held on a single day, on campus, by which students will be informed of the student life and academic support services, degree requirements, timeline to degree completion, and assessment standards for the program curriculum. Fall only.
DSTM 601. Proseminar: Topics & Methods. (3 Credits)
This proseminar presents by asking "what is a destination?”; through six modules (two weeks each), diverse faculty introduce the varied sites and their values/goods, alongside research topics and methods for the study of DSTM. Through a multidisciplinary approach, students are introduced to Florence as a destination to examine the principles, roles, and responsibilities associated with Destination Management as a field.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 602. Mobility Justice & Tourism. (3 Credits)
This course provides an in-depth examination of the descriptive and normative dimensions of tourism and travel policy, practices, and models through a case study approach. Case studies are taught alongside ethical theory and political philosophy to address applied and practical contexts. The course is guided by the theoretical framework of Mobility Justice, a multiscalar approach to human mobility, and the broader social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental contexts of mobility systems and infrastructures.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 603. Planning & Coord. for Tourism. (2 Credits)
Introduces essential concepts, principles, practices, and frameworks for project planning and coordination as a practical skillset. Includes domain specific organizational skills for the transnational contexts of the travel and tourism industry, orienting towards key practices for students to begin planning of their capstone practicum.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 604. Sociology&Psychology of Travel. (2 Credits)
An introduction to cross-cultural dimensions of travel and destinations from sociological and psychological perspectives. Includes survey of social science concepts, methods, practices, and topics for the qualitative study of human mobility and local communities situated in transnational and globalized contexts.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 605. Food Justice: Hist&Phil Food. (2 Credits)
A case-study and place-based approach to the topics of Food Justice and the History of Food and Agriculture. Introduction to contemporary food systems and policy, national and international standards and classifications for agriculture, food safety, and global food security programs for food justice.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 606. Business Admin & Hospitality. (2 Credits)
An introduction to ethical business administration and planning, including stakeholder and community engagement, social entrepreneurship, poverty reduction, sustainable development, including principles of Affective Hospitality and sustainable human resource management for the travel and tourism industry.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 611. Communities on the Move. (2 Credits)
Two module course introducing local community engagement within Florence/Tuscany region: Module 1 - “communities of choice” (online communities, digital nomads, tourists, expats, creative and artistic communities); Module 2: cultural, socioeconomic, political communities (i.e. migrants, refugees, stateless persons, laborers, students, “rural/urban” communities, and those whose cultural, social, and political identities and essential needs join them).
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 612. Research Methods & Ethics. (1 Credit)
A course introducing practices and methods from qualitative research in the social sciences and humanities to guide community engaged learning. This course is taught with a practical emphasis on complying with fundamental principles of research ethics for the DSTM Capstone project.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 614. Trvl'g: From Pilgrimage to Lit. (2 Credits)
A two module course introducing specialized research topics in destination management building on the methods and practices from DSTM 611 course. Module 1: examines historical and contemporary pathways and sites of pilgrimage and religious traditions for spiritual communities “on the move”. Module 2: examines literature and the publishing industry as a pathway for language and literature “on the move”, where sense of place and identity shape how travelers and locals engage in intercultural and linguistic exchange.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 615. Technoscience for Common Good. (2 Credits)
This course introduces digital skillsets in technologies actively used by the travel and tourism industry alongside the ethics of technology in the following areas: Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, User Experience/User Interface (UX/UE) Design, Digital Marketing and CRM, Property Management and Reservation Software and Systems, Social Media Marketing, Cybersecurity and Data Protection. Introduces the field of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) to examine the intersecting normative dimensions of technologies in their applied social context.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 616. Cultural Justice & Heritage. (2 Credits)
This course introduces Cultural Justice and Heritage Conservation, alongside contemporary human rights discourses. Examines transnational regulatory frameworks of UNESCO and UN policy, Art History and Restoration, Trafficking of Antiquities and Artifacts, Social Justice in the context of Museum Studies, and Environmental Justice in nature conservation. Analyzes existing moral, political, and legal dimensions of heritage protection of cityscapes, landscapes, seascapes, monuments, artifacts, national parks, and wildlife conservation spaces to promote innovative policy and address existing issues for destinations.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 617. Trnsnat'lPolicy&StrtgcPlanning. (2 Credits)
In-depth examination of the transnational governance of human mobility within in travel and tourism policy and planning. Specific attention to the marginalized communities that are shaped and moved within and between destinations connected specifically to travel and tourism policy and practices, and transportation systems as critical sites for policy and infrastructure. This course includes examining policy and practices for crisis management and strategic planning in the context of a destination.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 618. Environ Econ & Sust. Finance. (2 Credits)
This course introduces environmental and ecological constraints and impacts on global finance and trade with attention to supply chains, risk/return, global trade, resource management, sustainability metrics and green financial instruments, including carbon markets for sustainable development and investment. Examines application of circular economies, product life cycle assessment, managing cultural goods and heritage conservation for sustainability, ecosystem services economics and environmental impact reports, GDP to GPI, slow economies, waste and pollution management practices, modeling for sustainability finance, social entrepreneurialism.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 619. Intrnatn'lRelatns,Media,&Comm. (2 Credits)
This course surveys key concepts, theories, and methods in International Relations in the transnational contexts of human mobility, travel, and tourism policy and governance. Traces dynamics and trends of political systems and policy, including transnational conflict, development studies, environmental crises management, and critical examination of the state-centric model of policy. Surveys media and communications concepts, practices, and principles for the promotion of inclusive and cross-cultural translational strategies for the “glocal” context of destinations across formats (i.e. social media, public speaking, digital, print, journalism, video/film).
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 680. Special Topics. (0-3 Credits)
May be repeated for credit.
Topics to be determined by instructor.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 690. Directed Study. (0-3 Credits)
May be repeated for credit.
Topics determined by instructor.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 697. Internship: Community Project. (1 Credit)
This course begins the administration process for students to report on the planning, initiation, and early stages of execution of the Capstone project (final phases executed late spring term to the end of summer term). Students must first select a supervisor for their capstone project assessment path, and identify target communities and internship, service, or engagement for their project in coordination with their supervisor. Approval of the Capstone project proposal is a required assessment for this course.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.
DSTM 699. Capstone Practicum. (6 Credits)
There are three assessment paths for their Capstone Practicum; 1) Internship, 2) Community Service, 3) Intensive Research. Each has three core requirements for the completion of the Capstone. First is to demonstrate practical ethics and Mobility Justice in application, with explanation of how the project served specific communities within the destination in accordance with research ethics and methods taught. Second, is to demonstrate comprehension and application of destination management principles, roles, and responsibilities that synthesize the ethical, social, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions into the structure and execution of the Capstone. Third is the ability to communicate, advocate, and engage others in a discussion of their Capstone outcomes in a final presentation of the project to a roundtable panel of GIF and other local external faculty, as well as select local community members of Florence or the region of Tuscany.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Graduate Non-Matric level students.