BIOGRAPHY

Jennifer Ritter Guidry is the Assistant Director of the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism. She is responsible for maintaining the website, which includes an online tourism guide of over 2,000 pages and links, planning the annual tourism conference and various fundraisers, coordinating outreach programming, writing and participation in grants funded through the center, and supporting the research of the center’sfellows and partnering organizations. She also supervises the archiving program. She is often called on to participate in conference panels and presentations on the state’s tourism industry and the pivotal role of culture and its folk artists in this business. She serves as the Lafayette Parish Commissioner for the 14-parish Atchafalaya National Heritage Area.


Prior to her graduate studies, Jennifer spent a year and a half in the field conducting archaeological surveys in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida. Her research interests include indigenous Louisiana history and the impact of Americanization on various settlement groups in Louisiana. She holds a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.