Michael Luongo

2025 Boren Fellow

Hometown

New York, New York

Major

Hospitality and Tourism Management, Ph.D.

College

The Graduate School

 

The Boren Awards fund U.S. students in any major up to $25,000 to study or conduct research abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests.

 

Michael Luongo was awarded the Boren Fellowship in recognition of his promising doctoral research on the rebuilding of Rwanda’s tourism industry following the 1994 genocide. With an invitation to conduct research at the University of Tourism, Technology and Business Studies in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali, Michael will dedicate six months to improving his proficiency in Swahili, conducting tourist interviews, and navigating the process for working at Genocide sites.

 

Already accomplished as a freelance journalist, editor, and photographer, Michael brings a wealth of international experience to the classroom as a Graduate Student Instructor both at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Brian Lamb School of Communication, including for courses in Culture and Tourism, Leadership and Management, and Speech Writing. From travel journalism to conflict and war reporting, Micheal’s writing and research reveal both a natural talent and a strong commitment to improving the human condition. As he notes in his 2023 TEDx talk, “it can take more than 20 years - over a generation - for nations to tentatively rebound from war and rebuild their tourism sector, a process that remains an understudied area of International Development.”

 

Writing in strong support of his application, Dr. Sandra Sydnor, Professor Emerita at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, began as his doctoral advisor and found a natural affinity between Michael’s research interests and her role as co-chair of a multi-state research team focused on transformative response to disruption.