Mechelle Best Named Interim Dean

The College welcomes our new Interim Dean, Mechelle Best, PhD, who began serving the College in her new capacity today. Most recently, since 2016, Best has been Chair of the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management. She has been faculty in the Department since 2008. Over the years, she has been invaluable to several faculty governance and curriculum committees, including the Black Student Success Council and the University Corporation Board of Directors.

In her official announcement to the Campus, CSUN Provost Mary Beth Walker wrote, "Dr. Best earned her PhD in Tourism from the University of Florida and graduated from the University of the West Indies with a BSc in Hotel Management and a MSc in Natural Resource Management. She is the recipient of numerous grants and the author of several publications including the co-authored text Contemporary Caribbean Tourism: Concepts and Cases published by Ian Randle Publishers in 2015."

Best's research interests include 'greening' or environmental management in hospitality & tourism; slavery heritage and how it is used for tourism purposes; ecotourism and nature-based tourism; tourism impacts; and community participation in tourism. She is conducting research on slavery heritage used by the tourism sector in the Caribbean and is also very interested in protected areas and how diverse communities engage with such sites. As stated on her webpage, "In this regard I am directing a programme called Re/Connecting People With Parks which facilitates visits to California's State Parks for CSUN students and community members."

Best is a faculty associate with CSUN's Institute for Sustainability and an active member of the core greening committee, having taught sustainability related courses, serving on the campus sustainability curriculum committee, and the steering committee for MataSphere - a sustainability themed living community in CSUN Student Housing. She is also a member of the California Travel Association.

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