On Sept. 30, the Harrah College of Hospitality hosted an interdisciplinary seminar with faculty and students from Hospitality, Engineering, and the School of Medicine, demonstrating how the college's PGA Golf Management Center can serve as a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration in sport performance and entertainment. School of Medicine…

Assistant Professor Renata Fernandes Guzzo (Hospitality) is the author of a recent article, "The circular economy advantage: unpacking the effects of hotel employees' involvement in circular economy initiatives," published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights. Drawing from social cognitive theory (SCT), this study explains how…

Christopher Cain (Hospitality) has been approved to serve on UNLV’s Intercollegiate Athletics Council (IAC). The IAC advises and oversees the university’s intercollegiate athletics program, including policy, institutional control, academic integrity, compliance, and student-athlete welfare. He joins other newly appointed members, Joe Ervin (…

Assistant professor Bonhak Koo (Hospitality) and his coauthors received the Best Paper Award at the GLOTECH 2026 Conference for their paper, “Hospitality’s Empathic Friend: How an Emotional Support AI Chatbot Can Be Used for Early Detection and Intervention for Employees’ Psychological Distress.” This interdisciplinary research was conducted in…

Tiange Xu (Hospitality) was featured in a G&M News interview, "Understanding the Impact of Gambling Content Creators on Player Behavior and Responsible Gaming." Drawing on his dissertation research on slot machine vlogs, the interview explores how gambling content creators are becoming informal sources of gambling education and building highly…

Tiange Xu (Hospitality), Andrea Dassopoulos (International Gaming Institute), and UNLV alumnus Dante Miller (Ph.D. Sociology, 2026) recently published a paper, "Classification-Behavior Discordance and Problem Gambling: Differential Patterns for Fantasy Sports and Loot Boxes Among College Students," in the Journal of Gambling Studies. The study…

Joseph Lema (Hospitality) presented the World Tourism Cities Development Report (2025–2026) at the opening session of the World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development 2026 on September 8, 2026, in Beijing, China. The report systematically assesses 100 representative tourist cities worldwide, covering 70 countries and regions. Lema was…

Professor Joseph Lema (Hospitality) is a coauthor of the recently published article, "Public Trust in Generative AI: Risk Perceptions, Regulatory Safeguards, and the Acceptance of Deepfake Technology." This study examines how perceived benefits, perceived risks, privacy concerns, and demographic characteristics relate to trust in deepfake…

Brett Abarbanel (International Gaming Institute; Hospitality) presented on the opportunities and obligations present in sports betting for professional sports organizations at the annual Pro Sports Assembly leadership retreat. The audience included executives from major pro sports and adjacent organizations, including NFL Corporate, Arizona…

Hyelin (Lina) Kim and co-authors Zhenxian Piao and Sung-Eun Kim recently published a study in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology examining the key dimensions of perceived virtual event quality (VEQual). Using a mixed-methods approach, the researchers investigate how these dimensions relate to telepresence and social presence,…

Associate professor Ozgur Ozdemir was appointed as an associate editor of the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, one of the leading journals in the hospitality field. Serving in this role, Ozdemir will contribute to the journal’s editorial decision-making and help oversee the review and development of research published in the…

Araceli Hernandez (Hospitality) and her co-authors recently published an article on corporate digital responsibility (CDR) in the International Journal of Hospitality Management. This study examines the impact of CDR practices directed toward customers on employees’ perceived organizational justice and subsequent organizational outcomes…