Carter A. Hunt

Carter A. Hunt serves as Associate Professor in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management and Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University, with appointments in the Latin American Studies Program. He directs the Dual-title Graduate Program in Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society (TREES) and the Intercollegiate Undergraduate Minor in Sustainability Leadership.

Education:

• B.A. in Psychology, University of Kentucky (1997)
• M.S. in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University (2003)
• Ph.D. in Recreation, Park, Tourism Sciences & Applied Biodiversity Science, Texas A&M University (2009)
• Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Anthropology, Stanford University (2009-2012)

Research Interests: Dr. Hunt investigates tourism's dual role in biodiversity conservation and community development through environmental anthropology and political ecology lenses. His ethnographic fieldwork examines how nature-based travel influences pro-environmental behavior and conservation philanthropy across Latin American and East African protected areas, emphasizing socio-cultural change and human-environment dynamics in high-biodiversity regions.

Scientific Awards:

• Global Community Professor, La Universidad de Monterrey, México (2025)
• Faculty Fellow, Rock Ethics Institute / Maurice K. Goddard Chair, Penn State (2024-2025)
• Penn State Emerging Academic Leader (PSEAL) (2024)
• HHD Faculty Sustainability Award (2023)
• Charles Darwin Foundation Fellowship (2021-2022)
• Fulbright Scholar (2019-2020)
• Emerging Faculty Outreach Award (2017)

Advising and Grants: Dr. Hunt directs the TREES graduate program and Sustainability Leadership minor while mentoring students through NSF-funded initiatives like LandscapeU. His research has secured support from Fulbright, the Charles Darwin Foundation, and Penn State's Rock Ethics Institute, with fieldwork conducted across six Latin American countries and Tanzania. He previously co-led international field courses in Tanzania, Fiji, and South Africa.

Labs and Teams: Dr. Hunt leads interdisciplinary collaborations through the TREES program and Sustainability Leadership minor, maintaining active partnerships with the Charles Darwin Foundation in the Galápagos Islands and Universidad de Monterrey's Global Community Professor initiative. His work integrates conservation psychology with anthropological field methods across multinational research teams.