Dr. Lisa Chase is the Director of the Vermont Tourism Research Center, and she is an Extension Professor at the University of Vermont. Her research and outreach focus on the intersection of food systems, community vitality, tourism, and working landscapes. With agritourism at the center of that intersection, Dr. Chase has worked with farmers, food entrepreneurs, and tourism businesses throughout Vermont and around the world for more than 20 years. She co-authored the book Food, Farms and Community: Exploring Food Systems and was the conference chair of the inaugural International Workshop on Agritourism, which was held in Burlington, Vermont in August 2022. Following the successful conference, Lisa was elected founding chair of the Global Agritourism Network, which fosters collaboration and provides education, research, and training for agritourism practitioners and scholars worldwide.

Before moving to Vermont, Lisa conducted research and outreach in New York, Colorado, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, among other places. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan, her M.S. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Cornell University, and her Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management and Policy from Cornell University. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, biking, skiing, and eating her way around Vermont and other world-class destinations.