DR. GINGER SMITH: BIOGRAPHY
An active researcher, Dr. Ginger Smith has published a new volume entitled
Tourism Policy and Planning: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (with David L. Edgell,
Sr., Maria Allen, and Jason Swanson, Elsevier, 2007). She also publishes frequently in
peer-reviewed texts and scholarly journals across disciplines, in areas including environmentally
sustainable destination policy, planning and management, tourism information communication
technologies, traveler safety and security, and sociocultural and heritage tourism. She also
lectures and publishes in the areas of higher education curriculum and blended/online academic
program development and delivery. She enjoys teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels in
the traditional classroom, as well as in blended and fully online environments.
Previously, Dr. Smith was the Associate Dean for the College of Professional Studies (CPS)
and Associate Professor for Tourism Studies, School of Business, at the George Washington
University (GW), Washington, DC. Dr. Smith’s primary responsibility as associate dean of CPS was the development
and design of multidisciplinary undergraduate through master’s degree programs for adult learners
in partnership with industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. These included undergraduate
and graduate certificates, A.S., B.A., and M.P.S. degree programs in such areas as police
science, healthcare, corporate compliance, law firm management, service firm leadership and
management, paralegal studies, strategic public relations, public leadership, and landscape design
and sustainable landscapes. In conjunction with new program and curriculum design, Dr. Smith also
created standards for faculty recruitment and professional development, innovative blended
(classroom/online) curriculum delivery, and teaching excellence.
Dr. Smith served as Founding Dean of the International School of Tourism and Hotel
Management, Ana G. Mendez University System, Puerto Rico, as a high level senior official in the
U.S. Department of Commerce, and as a full-time faculty member and Founding Director of the GW
Accelerated (Online) Master’s of Tourism Administration Program, School of Business. She
received a B.A. from Stanford and Cornell in honors humanities, music, and English, an M.A. from
the University of Delaware in public relations and public communication, and a Ph.D. in
international relations, School of International Service, the American University, Washington, DC
(dissertation: “Tourism, Telecommunications, and Transnational Banking: A Study in
International Interactions”).
Dr. Smith sings in local choral groups and serves in elected positions on boards of directors
for ACAD (American Conference of Academic Deans) and the NAMI-Northern Virginia (National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill). A nationally ranked athlete in track and field, Dr. Smith competed in
U.S. Olympic trials and is a Delaware Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
