Sotiris Hji-Avgoustis
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Dr. Sotiris Hji-Avgoustis is a professor and chair of the Indiana University Department of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management. His research interests are in the area of city tourism and particularly cultural tourism, sports tourism and convention tourism. He has published extensively in national and international journals on these topics. He has studied the impact of tourism on Indianapolis’ quality of life since 2002 and his findings appeared in several journals and conference proceedings.
Dr. Hji-Avgoustis was instrumental in the development of Indiana University’s newest graduate degree, the Master of Science in Events Tourism. The degree provides opportunities for focused graduate studies in one of the above three event tourism-specific areas. Graduates will have a practical and theoretical understanding of the events and experiences created by expositions, fairs, sports, festivals, conferences, meetings and cultural destinations. It is an outgrowth of conversations the school had with tourism industry officials who expressed a need for such a program as the City of Indianapolis began ratcheting up its investment in tourism.
Dr. Hji-Avgoustis is a strong supporter of the internationalization of the undergraduate and graduate curriculums. He has been active in the creation of study abroad programs for the department. He was instrumental in the establishment of a three-week long study abroad program in Western Kenya to study sports tourism through service learning. His students spend three weeks at the Lornah Kipligat High Altitude Training center where they work on projects to promote the facility as an international sports tourism destination. He has also been involved with a study abroad course that exposes students to the mechanics of the cruise line industry and thee establishment of a student exchange program with Heilbronn University in Germany.