Typically, students benefit from a professor’s scholarly work when that professor brings his or her knowledge into the classroom. For students of Miles Orvell, professor of English and American Studies, that could not be truer. However, in Orvell’s case, the reverse is also true. So strong is his investment in his teaching that his interactions with students have had a major influence on his scholarship.

When Daniel R. Fesenmaier was working toward his doctorate in geography at the University of Western Ontario, his advisor, Michael F. Goodchild, asked the same question every day: “What have you done to expand the frontiers of knowledge?” Some 30 years later, Fesenmaier, professor in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management and director of the National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce, is an internationally recognized scholar in the global tourism industry. A recipient of a 2010 Faculty Research Award, Fesenmaier manages projects in areas of travel and tourism impacted by technology and has conducted research for hundreds of tourism organizations across the world.