Dr. Nicely is Assistant Professor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue University teaching a range of undergraduate and graduate courses primarily in the areas of Lodging and Human Resources Management. Prior to joining the team at Purdue, she taught at the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica and Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She worked in the hospitality industry at both the line and managerial levels. Also, she was a frequent contributor to Jamaica’s oldest and largest newspaper, the Daily Gleaner’s, bi-weekly feature magazine, Hospitality Jamaica. Between 2006 and 2010 the newspaper published 18 of her articles. Her articles covered a range of human resource and food issues of particular interest to the Jamaican hospitality industry with her most noteworthy being her trilogy on Jamaica’s national gastronomic identity. However, Dr. Nicely’s primary area of expertise and focus is human performance in hospitality business and tourism communities. More specifically, in identifying ways hospitality and tourism leaders can consciously and unconsciously improve the learning and performance of their constituents. Her work in this area has been published in leading hospitality and tourism journals, such as in Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Her work in learning and performance has also been presented at academic conferences both in the U.S. and internationally, such as in Australia and Malaysia. In addition, Dr. Nicely has a passion for Caribbean gastronomy, in particular Jamaican gastronomy. More specifically, in documenting areas of Jamaican gastronomy often overlooked by culinarians and food and beverage management professionals with particular interest in Jamaican food and eating styles.  

Learning/performance in hospitality business and tourism communities (in particular visitor harassment issues in tourism communities), Caribbean gastronomy