Academic and hunter: a portrait of William C. Gartner

摘要

It is truly both a privilege and a challenge to present William (Bill) Craig Gartner. A privilege because Bill is one of the top tourism academics of modern times and rightly proud of his academic tourism work. A challenge because some things, using his words, exist above his academic mission and will never “change” (Gartner, 2011, p. 88). During autumn every year, this tall professor allows his academic work to suffer, takes his mysterious black dog and disappears into the open space of either North or South Dakota to chase flying ducks and pheasants. During winters, this same hunter disappears off the radar to go ice fishing. In spring- time, he dives into the white water and on a raft he has made from tree logs drifts over the rapids, wherever the river may take him. And when he puts his hunting and fishing gear down, he never stops moving in the search for good wine and local cheese. Bill is always on the road, whichever vision - academic or non-academic — he is hunting.