Jennifer is currently a graduate student pursuing a PhD degree in Hospitality Management at Auburn University. Her research focus is on sustainability.
She was the Program Director for the Hospitality and Tourism Institute at Prince Georges Community College where she was responsible for leadership, program planning, marketing, recruiting, and determining the Institute’s goals and curriculum development priorities. Her responsibilities also included, identifying staffing, facilities, equipment and supply needs while ensuring high-quality instruction for programs that served the hospitality and tourism industry. She was the primary liaison in cultivating and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with businesses, government agencies, and professional associations. In 2010, HTI received the Maryland Tourism Education Foundation Award given at the Maryland Tourism and Travel Summit in Annapolis and Jennifer received ,“The Lamp of Knowledge Award for United States Educator,” from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AH&LEI).
As former President of J & J Calhoun and Associates, Inc., she has over 20 years of experience developing and facilitating workshops for all levels of workers in hospitality, tourism, and educational organizations. Her expertise is not just multifaceted but multicultural. Jennifer was responsible for working with clients in the United States, Canada, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, South America, Latin America, and the Caribbean to develop business strategies to improve their productivity, reduce costs, and train managers and line associates.
She was also the Director of Seminar Programs for the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute, where she had the unique opportunity of designing learning to meet organizational needs, managing organizational knowledge, delivering training, measuring and evaluating training, and improving human performance for all levels of workers in hospitality and tourism industries, both in the United States and overseas.
Among her projects, she has designed programs in Visionary Leadership, “Diversity,” “Front Office and Housekeeping Training for Managers and Employees,” “Quality Assurance for the Hospitality Industry,” “Time Management,” and Train–the-Trainer workshops.
Other Interests
Chairman, PGCC-Hospitality & Tourism Institute Executive Advisory Board
Member, The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)
Member, International Council for Hotels, Restaurants and Institutional Educators (ICHRIE),
Maryland Board Member, Maryland Life Magazine
Member, Maryland Tourism Council (MTC)
Member, Maryland Hotel and Lodging Association (MH&LA),
Member, The Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM)
Member, National Association for Female Executives (NAFE).
Former board member for the University of Central Florida (UCF) “Graduate Advisory Board.”
