{"id":21322,"date":"2019-08-30T14:03:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=21322"},"modified":"2019-08-30T14:03:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:03:31","slug":"making-a-global-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/making-a-global-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Global Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Nibigira\"<\/a>O<\/span>ne of 84<\/span> doctoral degree recipients in May, Carmen Nibigira knows the value of focus and persistence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nibigira moved to Clemson in 2012 from the small African country of Burundi to pursue her Ph.D. in travel and tourism. It was a difficult decision that took her away from her children, who stayed with family back home while she studied.<\/p>\n

Although she had quickly risen in her field, Nibigira was conscious that dynamics in the tourism and hospitality industry were changing and that she had much to learn if she wanted to continue to advance her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy professional background was in hospitality; however, I began to see tourism industry discussions shift to a greater focus on conservation, preservation and community engagement,\u201d Nibigira said. \u201cI had little knowledge at the time about how my journey in Clemson would unfold but had faith that pursuing my education in tourism development, with a focus on policy, was the best decision, regardless of the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her studies have been interrupted several times \u2014 by career opportunities and by political unrest in Burundi. But she persisted, at times working on the degree part time, and completed her degree in May. Nibigira\u2019s faculty adviser, travel and tourism professor Sheila Backman, said this kind of tenacity and focus is typical for Nibigira: \u201cOther graduate students find themselves needing to overcome challenges while they complete their credential, but not like Carmen. Instead of slowing her down, she always manages to navigate through anything that\u2019s thrown her way. And she does it the right way. As a result, her academic and practitioner colleagues have tremendous respect for her and the knowledge, skills and commitment she brings to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nibigira started her academic career in the United Kingdom, earning her undergraduate degree in Brighton and her master\u2019s in Birmingham, with experiences in Switzerland and East Africa. She decided to pursue her Ph.D. in North America, in part to learn about tourism from a different cultural perspective. She chose Clemson because of its climate, tourism and parks management program, and faculty\u2019s international reputation.<\/p>\n

While she studied, Nibigira also continued her long-standing work to empower women throughout East Africa by creating opportunities for education and mentorship. She has mentored dozens of women during her 20-year career in the travel and hospitality industry and is committed to continuing that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is a great opportunity for young women,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just about education. It\u2019s about the quality of education, equal pay, being able to get a good job and striving to have it all, just not all at once. It took me 15-20 years to work toward my Ph.D., when you factor in my university education and work experience. Once you understand that hard work pays, you become mentally prepared for the challenge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nibigira is now working as a project director for Horwath HTL, an international consulting firm that provides governments and other clients with tourism research, policy and strategy development, and implementation support in East Africa. Recently, she has found a new challenge to pursue after a conversation with one of her sons. \u201cHe asked me, \u2018Why are you always focused on helping girls? Why not boys?\u2019\u201d she said. His statement caught her off guard and made her think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a mother of boys and began to wonder, are we creating the same opportunities for them? We perceive boys as having an advantage, but I\u2019ve started to wonder if that\u2019s really the case,\u201d Nibigira said. \u201cI\u2019m compelled to see how I can start engaging boys in the very near future. We have helped girls and women access education and equal opportunities, and boys are feeling left out.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all, in Africa, we say that it takes a village to raise a child,\u201d she continued. \u201cI feel like it took several countries to raise me. If I can make a difference in any way, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of 84 doctoral degree recipients in May, Carmen Nibigira knows the value of focus and persistence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1174],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-21322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-these-hills","tag-fall-2019-in-these-hills"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/PhD-Hooding_May-2019_032_CLIPPED.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21322"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}