Community and Therapeutic Recreation
Dr. Duffy’s research program fits under the umbrella of critical sustainable tourism and leisure studies. In viewing tourism, recreation, and leisure economies as a potential mechanism for economic and community development, she interested in the political economy and the structure of these systems, and how they shape stakeholder engagement and the distribution of impacts.

Her interest in tourism and recreation planning and development emerged out of her time spent working in rural communities in South and North Carolina where she assisted in the development of master tourism plans, product development, marketing plans, community mapping and GIS applications, community visioning exercises, business feasibility assessments, and industry linkage development.

More recently, she has transitioned this work to the Global South, studying the distributive qualities of the impacts of tourism in coastal communities in the Caribbean, Central, and South America. In the context of tourism, recreation, and leisure, she has also looked at gender, Race, (dis)ability, technology, and food.

Dr. Duffy also focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning, where some of her research has focused on how to help students think critically and ethically about some of the complex, wicked challenges of our time. She has also explored the impact of cross-cultural exchanges, highlighting the importance of learning from, and with, people across the globe.