About Natalie

Dr. Natalie Ooi is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the Ski Area Management Program within the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University. She bridges the academic and ski industry worlds, having worked as a rental technician at Steamboat Springs Ski & Resort in 2008/09, before returning in 2010/2011 to do her dissertation on mountain resort tourism development. Her area of research focus was examining the socio-cultural sustainability of mountain resort development within the community of Steamboat Springs, CO. An avid skier and hiker, Natalie is an Australian citizen who relocated to the USA in 2013 to further follow her passion of skiing and the outdoor lifestyle. Her research interests center on sustainable ski area management and development, with particular interest in the complexities of tourism-community and other stakeholder relationships within mountain resort communities. She earned her Ph.D. from Monash University, Australia, where she was a Donald Cochrane Scholar and recipient of the Dean’s Postgraduate Research Excellence Award for the Faculty of Business and Economics.

CV

Interests

  • Dr. Ooi's research interests center around sustainable tourism development. These include the sustainability of ski area management and development, with particular interest in the complexities of tourism-community and other stakeholder relationships within mountain resort communities. Other research interests pertaining to sustainable tourism include the sustainability of backpacker tourism, and the potential for overlap between backpacker and volunteer tourism.

Education

PhD, BusComm (ski area management) - Monash University
Berwick, Australia, 2013

BBusComm (Hons), - Monash University
Berwick, Australia, 2008

BS, Bachelor of Sport and Outdoor Recreation/BBusComm (management) - Monash University
Gippsland, Australia, 2006