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From Isolation to Inundation: How Tourist Travel Changed Southern Utah
February 29 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Lisa will focus on three changes to rural Utah during the 20th century which required dramatic adaptation:
1) the building of the Arrowhead Highway, later I-15 from LA to SLC,
2) the growth of tourism, especially regarding Utah’s 5 national parks, and
3) the reinvention of the rural economies, away from agriculture and toward tourism and services.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER: Lisa-Michele Church
Lisa-Michele Church’s professional background includes more than 30 years of public and private service as an attorney, historian, and
community activist. She served in the cabinets of two Utah governors where she advocated for issues of social justice from helping individual families negotiate the challenges of mental illness to advocating at a national level for more effective substance abuse prevention strategies during Utah’s methamphetamine epidemic.
In her law practice she served as Vice President/General Counsel at a Fortune 500 company where she was instrumental in negotiating the venue agreements for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. As Executive Director of Utah’s Department of Human Services, Ms. Church addressed child protection, juvenile justice, mental illness, drug addiction, services for people with disabilities, elder abuse, and child support collection. Subsequently, as administrator for Utah’s juvenile court system, she was able to continue her advocacy for youth and families across courts statewide. She worked with judges and court staff to prioritize the needs of underserved youth such as girls in the juvenile justice system and teenagers aging out of foster care without family attachments.
Lisa-Michele is a published historian by avocation and passion. Having grown up in the California and Utah, she is interested in vernacular architecture, especially early 20th century mom-and-pop businesses such as motels, cafes, and grocery stores. She speaks often on topics of tourism, iconic neon signs, vintage apartment buildings, and road-building throughout Utah.