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Dr. David MatarritaAssistant Professor Community Development Program AGLS Building 452 979-845-8522 dmatarrita@ag.tamu.eduEducation B.S. Agricultural Economics, University of Costa Rica, 2002 MSc. Rural Sociology, Penn State University, 2005 Ph.D. Rural Sociology, Penn State University, 2008 |
Specialty
Natural resource sociology, community development, international rural development, community-based tourism development.
Research Interests
1) Natural resource sociology: Effects on natural resources use and management in the context of changing resource dependent communities, amenity-rich communities, and rapidly growing rural communities.
2) Community development: Effects of changing population composition on local community development processes; conceptual advancements in community development.
3) International rural development: Changing quality of life in rural communities experiencing rapid growth.
4) Tourism: Tourism as a development tool; impacts of tourism; tourism and quality of life; community agency’s role in tourism-based communities.
Research Directions
My current research is focused on understanding the role of local sociological processes in the creation (or destruction) of sustainable practices. I am interested in examining the effects that change, brought by tourism and second-home ownership, has in rural communities. This particularly deals with understanding the role of rapid sociodemographic and land use change in community participation, attachment, integration, satisfaction, and quality of life and how these in return affect community development efforts.
