Dr. Erinn D. Tucker-Oluwole, PhD (she/her)

Department Chair and Associate Professor
University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Hospitality and Tourism Management Department
Co-Founder, DMV Black Restaurant Week

Erinn D. Tucker-Oluwole, PhD is the Department Chair of the Hospitality and Tourism Management Department at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) leading the program on three campuses within the University of Maryland System. She is the Co-Founder of DMV Black Restaurant Week and has worked for over 25 years consulting for small businesses in the service industry focusing on hospitality industry, workforce development, destination management organizations and Fortune 500 companies. She has been quoted in the Washington Post, Food & Wine Magazine, Washingtonian, DCist, Wall Street Journal, CGTN America amongst other regional publications. She has been widely sought after for regional metropolitan media such as WTOP, Foodie and the Beast, WPRW, WEACT Radio, Fox5, WUSA Channel 9 and others. Dr. Tucker-Oluwole has consulted for companies such Amtrak, Social Tables, the Charlotte Hornets and Charlotte Knights and has contributed event management experience to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Before UMES, she has held faculty appointments at Georgetown University, Boston University, Temple University, and Johnson and Wales University, the latter being one of the top culinary arts programs in the US. Dr. Tucker-Oluwole has contributed articles for Lodging, the official publication of the American Hotel and Lodging Association and Social Tables. She co-chaired the HR and Diversity Summit for Lodging magazine for three successful years, served on the inaugural local organizing committee for the historically black collegiate CIAA conference, advisor to the National Society for Minorities in Hospitality, served as chair and committee member for several hospitality associations including the International Council of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Educators (ICHRIE) and Professional Conventions Management Association (PCMA) and National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners.

In 2023, she was honored with the Diversity in Business Award by the Washington Business Journal, named one of the 25 Most Influential Educators in Hospitality by the International Hospitality Institute and recipient of the Grace Award from Nolan Williams and The Kennedy Center Social Impact Initiative. Currently, she is on the Board of Directors for Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), Vice Chair & Mid-Atlantic co-chair for the Restaurant + Chef Awards committee, for the JamesBeard Foundation Awards and former Clinton Foundation 20/30 Advisory Board member. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Washington, DC Chapter and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Her published work has appeared in tourism journals, textbooks, publications and trade periodicals and she won the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education Best Paper Award in 2016. Her upcoming book, The Black Travel Movement is under contract with Columbia University Press.