Dr. Jon Griffin Donlon and Dr. Jocelyn Hazelwood Donlon left their Louisiana home in the 1980s to pursue graduate work at the University of Illinois.  Jocelyn earned a Ph.D. in American literature, emphasizing Southern literature and folklore.  Jon completed his doctoral work in the Department of Leisure Studies, specializing in cultural tourism.  Jocelyn’s book, Swinging in Place: Porch Life in Southern Culture, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in the fall of 2001.  Jon has published numerous scholarly and popular articles in leisure and tourism.  In 2001, Donlon and Donlon established their consulting business in Baton Rouge.  Specializing in cultural interpretation, they perform ethnographic research and fieldwork; text writing and photography services; development of educational materials; and tourism site planning.  For more detail, see example projects.  

In 2005, Donlon & Donlon founded the Center for Cultural Resources (CCR), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a mission to promote efforts that further the public's understanding of culture.  Currently, the CCR is collection inviting stories in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, at www.hurricanestories.org.