In July, Joe Goldblatt, senior lecturer and executive director for professional development programs and strategic partnerships, received a research grant from Temple’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies to conduct a study at the TGH Strehlow Research Center in Alice Springs, Australia.  

Goldblatt, a world-renowned scholar and researcher in the field of event studies, examined Strehlow's anthropological field notes with Australian aborigines to develop the first taxonomy of ritual and celebrations conducted by these indigenous peoples.  

Also in July, Goldblatt delivered his papers, "Global Trends in Events Education" and "Securing Future Events: The eSafe Knowledge Transfer Project," in Melbourne, Australia, where he was the featured speaker for the Event Educators Conference of Australia.

Goldblatt was also keynote speaker for the Third Tourism Outlook Conference, at the University of Technology Mara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he spoke about event tourism management and presented, "21st Century Cultural Heritage and Event Tourism Leadership in Malaysia."