“ It’s kind of hard to hold bias once you meet people and break bread with them.”
Kristin Lamoureux ’97
B.S. Travel Tourism Management Associate Dean and Clinical Associate Professor Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism New York University New York, New York
Kristin Lamoureux ’97 was bitten by the travel bug during a high school exchange program in Ecuador, where she discovered her love of travel, cultures and communities beyond the U.S. The Ecuadorian adventure also steered her future education and career in the direction of sustainable tourism and international economic development. After graduating from Johnson & Wales, Lamoureux earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. from George Washington University (GW), where she also launched her academic career as an assistant research professor of tourism and business management. She later became the executive director of GW’s International Institute of Tourism Studies. The role propelled her into global travel with her students, teaching them in communities around the world. “I’ve never had the traditional academic career where I’m in the classroom,” says Lamoureux. “I’ve worked in or been involved with any number of 50-plus countries. A lot of it has been at the very local level — working in communities, helping them identify what they have to offer with regard to tourism and how can they do this sustainably. I think that traveling, especially now-a-days, is so important as we learn about other cultures and people. It’s kind of hard to hold bias once you meet people and break bread with them.”
22
Summer 2017
After 14 years at GW, in early 2016, Lamoureux became associate dean at New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism. NYU has campuses and academic centers on seven continents, offering a choice platform for Lamoureux’s talents. “I’m working on developing activities at our campuses in Shanghai, Tokyo and other places, so that’s really interesting right now — bringing the NYU-applied education model to our other places around the world.” Back when she was a student at JWU, Lamoureux worked as a teaching assistant to help fund her education. That experience ended up being ideal training for her academic career. “Having the responsibility of overseeing other students was challenging,” she recalls. “It was my first experience managing people. Looking back, I made a lot of mistakes but I also learned a lot, and what better environment to do that?”