Biography

Dr. Elizabeth H. Barber is the immediate past Associate Dean of Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM), the region’s leading provider of management talent in tourism, hospitality, sport, and recreation. She was the founding Associate Dean for STHM, a role she served for 18 years. Since 2016, Dr. Barber has returned to her faculty role and is an associate professor in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

She is one of the area’s foremost educators in the development of curricula for tourism, hospitality, sport, and recreation. Since the School’s inception in 1998, she has lead the program to offer the best and most comprehensive industry-specific education in undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral studies. Under her leadership the school has grew from six faculty member and 120 students, to 24 faculty, 15 staff, 1,000 students, $5 million in endowed funds/scholarships, two internationally recognized research centers, and over one million dollars in externally funded grants and projects. Dr. Barber is a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE).

Prior to STHM, she served as an associate professor within the Department of Sport Management and Leisure Studies, part of Temple’s College of Health, Physical Education and Dance (HPERD). Within HPERD, her primary responsibility was to lead the Department’s efforts in curriculum development of Commercial Recreation and Tourism. In 1998, she soon took on the role of academic director and then associate dean of STHM. She came to Temple in 1989.

She completed her PhD in Instructional Design and Technology from The University of Iowa in 1987. Her areas of research have included curriculum development, instructional adequacy, teaching and learning styles, customer service, and customer and personnel satisfaction within an organization.

She is an active participant in the tourism, hospitality, sport and recreation communities. She is an executive board member of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chair of Hospitality Committee for Global Philadelphia Strategic Plan 2016, vice chair for Philadelphia Hospitality, board member of International SKAL, Philadelphia Chapter, past president of the regional association of I-CHRIE (International Council for Hospitality, Restaurant, and Institutional Educators) HEMAR (Hospitality Educators Mid-Atlantic Region), and past president of the International Special Events Foundation (ISEF). For many years Dr. Barber served as chair of the student liaison committee and as a board member for the Philadelphia Chapter of Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association (HSMAI), Girl Scouts of Southeast PA, and Back on My Feet.