Hospitality & Tourism Management

Dr. Courtney Suess is an Associate Professor and the William S. Spears Professor of Business at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University. Prior to joining OSU, she was an Associate Professor at Texas A & M University in the Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism. From 2017-2021 held a joint appointment in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences and the Department of Liberal Studies' Tourism and Coastal Community Development Program at the Galveston campus. Dr. Suess’ research is at the intersection of experience design, tourism and hospitality management, community development, and built environments including their effects on human health and behavioral outcomes. Dr. Suess’  is  an Academic Scholar at Cornell University’s Institute for Healthy Futures and a Fellow at the Center for Health and Nature at Texas A & M University. She has published over 55 journal articles and serves as an Associate Editor for Tourism Management Perspectives.

Chen-Wei "Willie" Tao, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and holds the Watson Family Endowed Professorship in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management within the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on foodservice management, social media research, and big data analytics. Besides research, he enjoys teaching and cultivating future leaders for the industry and academic community. Hospitality is the language he speaks, and travel is how he understands the world.