Dr Lisa Marie Assante’s credentials include teaching in the field of hospitality and tourism management for more than 20 years; holding administrative titles of Department Chair, Vice Dean/Associate Dean, Dean, and Head of Academics and Research in public and private academic settings, respectively; and having 17 years of leadership experience in the hospitality and tourism industry. Dr Assante is an honored and awarded academic and scholar. She is passionate about experiential education, service learning, and global learning. As an innovative educator, she is the recipient of the EDGE (Education Designed to Give Experience) Program Award for Achievement in Experiential Learning; the Utah Campus Compact Outstanding Engaged Scholar Award; and designated as a Service-Learning Fellow. Dr Assante has been recognized by her peers with the coveted annual Outstanding Educator Award and was honored by the student body with the Professor of the Year award, among other distinctions.
Dr Assante is currently Associate Professor at Al Rayyan International University College in partnership with University of Derby. Previously, she was the Vice Dean for Sol International School at Woosong University in South Korea and had academic oversight for Global Hospitality and Tourism Management, Restaurant and Entrepreneurship, Media and Communication Arts, and the School of Railroad and Transport Management; collectively encompassing six bachelor’s degrees, two master of science degrees, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Hospitality Management. Her responsibilities also included oversight of Sol International Culinary Arts, and related international academic programs for Institut Paul Bocuse and CETT-UB School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy.
Over her career, Dr Assante has held the roles of Lecturer at Hotelschool The Hague; Freelance Professor at Institut Paul Bocuse; Associate Professor of Global Hospitality and Tourism Management at University of West Florida, where she served as the inaugural Department Chair for 3 years; Associate Professor of Management, Marketing and Hospitality at Southern Utah University; and Assistant Professor of Travel Industry Management at University of Hawaii, Manoa. Dr Assante served as Chairman of the Board for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Educational Foundation and as a Board Member for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association EscaRosa Chapter. In her most recent industry position, she was a Manager of Training and Development for The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, where her primary focus was to formulate and implement leadership training and development programs for the AAA 5 Diamond property, concentrating on unmatched service and leadership. Her prior hospitality industry experience is in food and beverage operations and management.
Dr Assante has a broad variety of practitioner-based research interests encompassing sustainable tourism development and relationship marketing; travel motives and visiting intent; optimal communication mix for destination image formation; and determining the linkage among learning theories, gamification, and adaptive learning and technologies to education and how students learn.
Dr Assante is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. She earned a Master of Science in Hotel Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a Doctor of Philosophy in Hospitality Administration from Texas Tech University.
Texas Tech University; Lubbock, TX December 2005 – Doctor of Philosophy in Hospitality Administration Concentration: Educational Psychology
University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Las Vegas, NV May 1998 – Master of Science in Hotel Administration Concentration: Hospitality Education / Food and Beverage Management / Marketing
The Pennsylvania State University; University Park, PA May 1987 – Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
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