2026 Contemporary Research Symposium

April 10-12, 2026

Tallahassee, FL

Welcome to the 2026 Contemporary Research Symposium!

Below you’ll find resources to help you make the most of your time in Tallahassee. All symposium activities are conveniently located within one mile of the Dedman College of Hospitality.

Schedule of Events

Friday, April 10

1:00PM - 4:00PM Pre-Conference Early Arrival Workshop (optional)

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd Floor
UCB 2102

5:00PM - 7:30PM Welcome Reception

Turnbull Conference Center, Rm. 108

"From Research to Retail: How Beverage Knowledge Becomes Guest Experience"
Presented by Libby Lewis and Zach Weston

Saturday, April 11

8:00AM Breakfast Buffet

Dedman College of Hospitality, 4th Floor

8:30AM Programing Begins & Panel Discussion

Dedman College of Hospitality, 4th Floor

8:30AM - 9:15AM Opening Keynote

"Reimagining Resilience in a World of Permanent Disruption: Governance, Systems and Transformation in Tourism"
Presented by Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray

9:15AM - 10AMResilience Perspectives Panel Discussion

Moderated by Dr. Elizabeth Ray, College of Communication and Information FSU

10:00AM Research Breakouts

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd & 4th Floors

12:00PM Lunch feat. Panel Discussion

Dedman College of Hospitality, 4th Floor

12:30PM - 1:00PM Panel Discussion

"The Role of the CRS in Hospitality and Tourism Scholarship Panel Discussion"
Moderated by Dr. Tarik Dogru, Dedman College of Hospitality FSU

1:00PM Research Breakouts Continue

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd & 4th Floors

2:30PM Afternoon Coffee Break

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd Floor

4:30PM Research Breakouts Conclude

5:00PM - 6:30PM Reception

Madison Social

7:00PM - 9:00PM FSU Flying High Circus

FSU Circus

Clear Bag Policy & Tickets Provided. More information regarding the show and bag policy can be found here.

Sunday, April 12

8:00AM Continental Breakfast

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd Floor

8:30AM Research Breakouts

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd & 4th Floors

11:30AM Box Lunch

Dedman College of Hospitality, 2nd Floor

12:30PM Research Breakouts Conclude

2026 Theme: Resilience and Thriving

The theme of the 2026 Contemporary Research Symposium is Resilience and Thriving: Creating a Competitive Edge through Hospitality and Tourism. Given that resilience is a term that can mean different things to different people, each conference group will be given the latitude to approach this topic from their own disciplinary viewpoint. To help distill the various perspectives on resilience, the conference will feature presentations from several leading scholars in the field of resilience research.

Our keynote speaker in the opening kickoff will be Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray, Director of the Richardson Family SmartState Center for Economic Excellence in Tourism and Economic Development at University of South Carolina, a leading scholar of resilience in the field of hospitality and tourism research.

Following the keynote address, we will host a panel discussion that includes Dr. Pennington-Gray, along with three resilience scholars who have expertise in this topic outside of the hospitality and tourism industry:

Dr. Karen Oehme
Director of Institute for Trauma and Resilience Studies at FSU

Dr. Eren Ozguven
Director of Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center (RIDER) at FSU

Dr. Angi Yoder Maina
Director of Resilience Institute for Strength and Empowerment (RISE) at FSU

Dr. Elizabeth Ray (Moderator)
College of Communication and Information at FSU

In addition to the scheduled programming, we are providing all attendees with a link to the bibliographic data (and DOI links) for 318 resilience articles recently published in the field of hospitality and tourism research. This document can be used as a starting point for all groups as they begin to formulate ideas and consider relevant literature.

For further inquiries, contact Dr. Nathan Line.

Destination Details

To help you navigate your time in Tallahassee, an interactive map of all symposium locations is provided below. All activities are conveniently located within one mile of the Dedman College of Hospitality, making it easy to move between events on foot. Because campus parking is limited and metered spaces are scarce, we encourage walking whenever possible.

Dedman College of Hospitality 288 Champions Way, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Turnbull Conference Center 555 W Pensacola St, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Madison Social 705 S Woodward Ave #101, Tallahassee, FL 32304

FSU Flying High Circus 269 Chieftan Way, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Hotel Indigo Tallahassee - Collegetown 826 W Gaines St, Tallahassee, FL 32304

Residence Inn by Marriott 600 W Gaines St, Tallahassee, FL 32304

Parking on campus is limited, with only a small number of metered spaces available. To avoid additional parking fees or citations, we encourage you to take advantage of the walkable area and move between symposium locations on foot whenever possible. Metered and hourly visitor parking locations are marked in yellow on the map above or can be found here.

The Dedman College of Hospitality is located at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. Complimentary parking is available only in the stadium visitor lot, marked in green on the interactive map,

When entering the visitor lot, take a ticket at the entrance and be sure to receive a visitor parking ticket from the guard shack. Bring your ticket to the registration table on the second floor of the Dedman College of Hospitality, where symposium staff will validate it.

Additional parking inquiries and restrictions can be found on the FSU Transportation website.