Dr. Elizabeth H. Barber is an associate professor and the Executive Director for Business Development and Partnerships for Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM), the Philadelphia region’s leading provider of management talent in tourism, hospitality, sport and recreation.
Dr. Barber 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 led the program as Academic Director from 1998 – 2003 and then was appointed as Associate Dean from 2003-2016. During this time, the school created and implemented the best and most comprehensive industry-specific education in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies. Dr. Barber created curricula for both Undergraduate and Graduate degree programs in Tourism and Hospitality Management and Sport and Recreation Management. STHM implemented a PhD program in Tourism and Sport, in affiliation with the Fox School of Business. Under her leadership for 18 years, the school grew from six faculty members and 120 students, to 24 fulltime faculty (and dozens of adjuncts), 15 fulltime staff and 1000 students. She supported faculty in the creation of three internationally recognized research centers. Dr. Barber was responsible for an $8.5 million operating budget and raised over $5 million in endowments, over $1 million in externally funded grants and projects and $500,000 for the STHM annual fund. During her tenure, Dr. Barber created exchange programs and study abroad opportunities for Temple students in Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea), Austria, England, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands.
In 2016, Dr. Barber returned to full-time faculty; now teaching and managing industry outreach for STHM. Dr. Barber is a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE).
She completed her PhD in Instructional Design and Technology from The University of Iowa in 1987. Her areas of research have included values based education, curriculum development, teaching and learning styles and customer and personnel satisfaction within an organization. She came to Temple University in 1989.
She is an active participant in the tourism, hospitality, sport and recreation communities. She is a board member of PHLDiversity, Past Chair and current Vice Chair for Philadelphia Hospitality, board member for Philadelphia SKAL, past executive board member for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Member, Past President of the NE regional federation of I-CHRIE (International Council for Hospitality, Restaurant and Institutional Educators) HEMAR 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 HSMAI.