The University of South Carolina College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management is proud to announce the winners of its 2025 Faculty and Staff Awards. The winners were recognized at an awards ceremony April 29 in front of their peers and colleagues.
Jessica Chavis — Harry E. and Carmen S. Varney Distinguished Teacher of the Year
Congratulations to School of Hospitality and Tourism Management Senior Instructor Jessica Chavis, the 2025 recipient of the Harry E. and Carmen S. Varney Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award.
The Distinguished Teacher of the Year award is the college's top teaching honor. The winner is determined by a committee of faculty, staff and students. Students across the college sent in dozens of nominations. The committee then conducted a rigorous review process, selecting one finalist to represent each primary department within the college. Further evaluation of the finalists then took place as the committee finished the difficult task of choosing a winner.
Congratulations also to the other finalists: Donald Pollard of the Department of Retailing and Laura Truell of the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management.
Fang Meng — Patricia G. Moody Distinguished Researcher of the Year
Fang Meng, professor and Ph.D. program director in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, is the 2025 recipient of the Patricia G. Moody Researcher of the Year award.
The award is the most prestigious recognition of scholarly achievement given by the college. Any full-time faculty member of the college with evidence of quality research within the previous four years may be nominated by their peers. A peer review committee reviews each nomination across criteria including the research impact and importance, creativity, authorship, grant funding, and journal rankings for published work.
Meng’s research primarily focuses on tourism marketing and management, destination development with the involvement of community stakeholders, consumer behavior/experience in hospitality and tourism (e.g., online review behavior, social media, online travel communities and sharing economy in tourism and hospitality) and international tourism.
She has been serving as a co-editor-in-chief of Tourism Analysis, an A-level journal in tourism academia. She also served as an editorial board member for eight hospitality/tourism journals (including two A+ journals), and ad hoc reviewer for multiple other journals. She also received international recognition as an Expert Committee member in the World Tourism Cities Federation, a global-level tourism organization, and as a Fellow in the International Academy of Chinese Tourism Scholars.
Read more about Meng, including recent publication highlights.
Congratulations also to the other finalists: Lori Pennington-Gray, endowed chair and director of the SmartState Center, and Kawon (Kathy) Kim, associate professor.
Scott Smith — Brian J. and Linda L. Mihalik Global Scholar
Congratulations to Associate Director of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and Associate Professor Scott Smith, the 2025 recipient of the Brian J. and Linda L. Mihalik Global Scholar award.
While the COVID pandemic has severely curtailed international travel for the past five years, Smith’s efforts to reach out to the international community in different ways have helped the college maintain a global connection.
His domestic travel class, Theme Park and Attractions Management, includes a one-week trip to Orlando, Florida, where students can experience behind-the-scenes tours of Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World. The students who attend are often international and can experience these world-famous attractions before they graduate and return to their home countries.
In his role as graduate director of the Master's in International Hospitality and Tourism Management program, Smith assisted international students in obtaining internships, allowing them to gain a perspective on how business is conducted within the United States in the hospitality and tourism industry, with the hope that they can improve their industries after returning to their home countries.
He also frequently helped recruit international students into the MIHTM program. By serving as adviser for international students, he helps foster a spirit of goodwill and understanding between these students and the University of South Carolina.
He is a two-time recipient of the Aruba Faculty Teaching grant. He received a travel grant from the University of Brno (2019) to be an invited guest speaker on revenue management and spent a week lecturing in several business classes in the Czech Republic. He received another travel grant from the University of Angers, where he has a standing invitation to return annually as an invited guest speaker on revenue management and has traveled to France for the last four years.
Smith is chair of the Revenue Management Educators Special Interest Group, which is comprised of college professors from around the world who specialize in teaching revenue management. This organization holds an international annual conference every year, and Smith has co-chaired the conference four times.
Smith continues to enhance the global image and reach of the College of HRSM by developing effective and mutually beneficial international Memorandums of Understanding that allow for and encourage student and faculty exchanges with universities.
He helped to initiate and secure MOUs with the University of Angers in France. While there as a guest lecturer, he initiated talks to discuss a student exchange program. Both universities signed their MOUs, and we received our first French student this year.
Kim Boone — Staff Member of the Year
Congratulations to Department of Sport and Entertainment Management Director of Special Events Kim Boone, the 2025 HRSM Staff Member of the Year.
A dedicated worker, supremely organized planner and strong leader, Boone directs the Sport Entertainment and Venues Tomorrow Conference (SEVT) and College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) Conference. Additionally, she manages The Thomas H. Regan Lecture Series and helps in the planning of other events.
Boone is a Department of Sport and Entertainment Management aluma. Prior to returning to HRSM as a staff member, she served as group sales coordinator at Colonial Life Arena and later as the marketing manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car (now Enterprise Holdings) for South Carolina and Southeast Georgia.
Katheldra Alexander — Outstanding Doctoral Student Teacher of the Year
Congratulations to School of Hospitality and Tourism Management Ph.D. student Katheldra Alexander, the 2025 HRSM Outstanding Doctoral Student Teacher of the Year.
Alexander is a native of the Bahamas but has lived in North Carolina for 19 years. She graduated with a degree in hospitality management from Bethune-Cookman University and a M.S. in organizational leadership and change from Pfeiffer University.
Alexander has more than 20 years of industry experience specifically onsite foodservice operations servicing the higher education and corporate dining sectors. She has taught hospitality courses at the University of The Bahamas and held other training roles throughout her career. Her research interests include restaurant and food safety, diversity, equity and inclusion, and leadership and training. Katheldra is an inaugural fellow of the 2022 Bloomin’ Brands DE&I Fellowship for AHED (Alliance for Hospitality Equity & Diversity).
She currently serves as student advisor for the USC chapter of the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality.
Seonjin Lee — Outstanding Doctoral Student Researcher of the Year
Congratulations to School of Hospitality and Tourism Management Ph.D. student Seonjin Lee, the 2025 HRSM Outstanding Doctoral Student Researcher of the Year.
Lee began the hospitality and tourism management Ph.D. program in fall 2023 and is a Presidential Fellow at the University of South Carolina. Hailing from Busan, South Korea, Lee studied at Pusan National University for his undergraduate degree in tourism and convention and later earned a master's from the school in tourism studies. Additionally, he has over five years of experience working as an interpreter, including two years of service as an interpreter in the Republic of Korea Navy.
Lee is interested in understanding the impact of tourism activities on local populations, the sustainability of the tourism industry, and the use of spatiotemporal data analysis for tourism research.
Congratulations also to this year’s runner-up, Sport and Entertainment Management Ph.D. student Deokkyung Ock.