“I told myself I was never going to the Galápagos Islands until I could figure out a way to help preserve and protect that island.”
It was a promise David Cárdenas made long ago both as a tourism scholar and as a native of Ecuador, which claims the Galápagos among its 24 provinces. A booming tourism industry was threatening the islands’ unique culture and environment.
It was a promise Cárdenas kept.
“In 2012, I was able to make a connection with the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, the only university to have a campus in the Galapagos,” says Cárdenas, who was an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina at the time. “We developed a long-term partnership where students and faculty from all disciplines worked together, looking at marine biology, sustainable development, and the health of the people on the island. We’ve been going back every year since.”
Cárdenas’ focus on preserving culture while driving sustainable tourism is a hallmark of his professional journey – one that has called upon his expertise in numerous markets across the globe, including the East Coast of the United States, South America, the Caribbean, and China.
It’s a journey that made an exciting yet somewhat unexpected turn in March 2024, when Cárdenas began his tenure as a college dean in one of the world’s most iconic tourism centers — Las Vegas.
“I never thought I would be in Las Vegas,” he says. “I’ve always looked up to this college [Harrah College of Hospitality] — the great reputation of its faculty and alumni. So when this opportunity came up, I jumped at it. I wouldn’t have applied to many other places.”
Though a stark departure from his work on the Galápagos, Cárdenas’ new role at 51ԹϺ has an almost poetic congruence as Las Vegas pushes to find its footing in the sustainability space. Most big hospitality and gaming brands have made significant commitments to eco-friendly initiatives. And as visitation to recreation areas around Southern Nevada continues to swell each year, Las Vegas is challenged with finding new ways to balance the guest experience with the preservation of natural lands.
Striking this delicate balance has been a fascination of Cárdenas since early in his academic career. While earning his master’s and Ph.D. at North Carolina State University, he worked on the Virginia Creeper Trail in the Appalachian Mountains, exploring ways to use resources as an economic trigger to create jobs. He continued his work with local communities after accepting a faculty position at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He then moved to South Carolina in 2011, where he joined a research center that generated tourism jobs for the state.
The impact of these community-based tourism planning projects served to broaden Cárdenas’ view about the potential impact on the industry.
“We, as hospitality and tourism professionals, can play a multi-dimensional role in this industry,” Cárdenas says. “We can help drive economic growth in tourism markets by creating jobs that empower the people living in these communities to be self-supporting in ways that are environmentally responsible.
“Our students have the opportunity to be very forward-thinking in this area. Their leadership will be critical in shaping the future.”
A man of two worlds
Cárdenas’ love of nature and history took root as a child. The son of an Ecuadorian father and North American mother, he grew up steeped in the rich culture of Quito, Ecuador, high in the Andean foothills.
Nothing could have prepared Cárdenas for the culture shock that would take place when, at the tender age of 14, he moved to rural North Carolina with his mother and siblings to be closer to the maternal side of his family. Needless to say, the transition proved difficult for the teenager.
“I was the only Latino in my high school,” Cárdenas says, “and I was not very happy for a while. But the experience ended up being a seminal moment for me because it taught me how to be open-minded. It also taught me the importance of getting involved.”
And get involved he did.
Cárdenas made it a point to engage with every program his high school offered – from student clubs to sports. He even joined the choir, despite his self-proclaimed shortcomings as a singer and performer. His enthusiasm clearly impressed the choir director, who asked Cárdenas to start managing the choir performances.
The surprising assignment awakened his love of guest service and operations.
Still, Cárdenas never considered these skills would amount to a career. In fact, when he started college at North Carolina State University, he was convinced there were only four viable career choices: doctor, lawyer, engineer, or teacher.
Cárdenas opted for the doctor route. To subsidize the cost of school, he began washing dishes and sweeping floors at the student center food court. The pre-med major never anticipated working that job for four years and loving it.
“By the time I graduated, I was an assistant manager,” Cárdenas says. “And then I continued working there during my gap year, which actually turned into a four-year gap. By the time I left, I was the director of the food operation of the student union.”
Now considering hospitality as a career, Cárdenas realized his practical training would only take him so far; he needed to learn the theoretical side of the industry to be successful. He shelved his bachelor’s in pre-med and joined the master’s program in NC State’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management. One day while working as a graduate assistant, he received an unexpected opportunity to step in for a tourism management professor who called out sick.
The experience was a major turning point in his academic career.
“It reminded me how much I loved being in the classroom,” Cárdenas says. “And soon I was getting opportunities to do tourism-related research, which was also really fun.”
Cárdenas’ ultimate decision to shift from food and beverage to sustainable tourism research came during a 1999 trip back to Ecuador, where he observed that the beloved coastline of his youth had been badly damaged by pollution and mismanagement.
“I realized [then that] I wanted to work with communities to use tourism as a way to elevate their culture and their society – to find opportunities to increase their quality of life with better jobs, better infrastructure, better trails — in a way that doesn’t destroy the environment,” he says.
This realization cemented Cárdenas’ research focus in sustainable development and was the prelude to his work in other tourism communities throughout the world, including a future partnership in the Galapagos.
Not that kind of doctor
Finding his industry passion gave Cárdenas the freedom and the opportunity to pursue various roles in academia over the years. Like the earnest teenager from high school, he made inroads simply by getting involved – enjoying time in the classroom as an assistant professor at University of North Carolina-Greensboro and University of South Carolina’s highly rated College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sports Management. He later flexed his administrative muscle by working as the associate dean and interim dean for the the college, and, then, most recently, became USC's interim associate vice president and vice provost for Global Affairs.
Through these varied roles, Cárdenas seized the chance to work directly with faculty, students, alumni, and external partners. He’s also taken the lead on a wide range of high-impact programs, such as curriculum development, student services, corporate engagement, and international programs. In fact, his international work stretches the globe to places like China, Vietnam, South Korea, Qatar, Spain, Ecuador, Aruba, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Curaçao, Italy, England, Belize, Portugal, and Oman.
Though his latest adventure doesn’t require learning a new culture and language, Cárdenas' move from the East Coast to the desert Southwest is more than a little reminiscent of the uprooting he experienced as a teenager. But, as he did back then, he’s confident that he will thrive. Cárdenas says his insatiable curiosity and desire to learn new things are what attract him to new experiences.
It’s precisely what called him to 51ԹϺ.
“I’m so excited to work with faculty and our industry partners to learn about the city’s resort-gaming core,” he says. “Very few places on Earth bring together all of these aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry like Las Vegas. And when you add the sports and entertainment component, I can’t imagine a place with more opportunities for students!
“As someone who discovered hospitality by accident, and made it my passion, I want to be able to provide that to others.”
As for staying grounded, Cárdenas opts for spending time in nature and surrounding himself with family, which includes a brother, two sisters, and cousins from all around the world. He ultimately credits the four women in his life – his wife, mother, and two daughters – for his success and happiness.
“As a Latino, family is very important to me,” Cárdenas says. “I have amazing daughters; one is a freshman and one is a senior graduating in May. I talk to my mom almost every day. She is so supportive. And my wife – well, she’s my rock. Everything I do, I do for them!”
