Institute Staff

Steve Morse, Ph.D.

Eva Smith, CHE

Chad Church

Director, Tourism Institute

Steve Morse, Ph.D.
Dr. Steve Morse is the director of the Tourism Institute at the University of Tennessee and associate professor in the Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism program in the Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management. Morse is an economist tracking business trends in the U.S. and Tennessee's hotel, restaurant, and tourism industries. Morse holds a B.S. in agricultural economics from the University of Georgia, and the Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Tennessee. Morse is originally from Whitesburg, GA, and he can be reached at (865) 974-6249 or at smorse@utk.edu.

Faculty in the Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management

Graduate Students

Eva Smith, CHE
Eva Smith is a Research Assistant with the Tourism Institute at the University of Tennessee where she is pursuing a doctorate degree in Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management. She is a certifies online educator and Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE). She has a B.A. from Wofford College and a Masters degree in hotel, restaurant, and tourism management from the University of South Carolina.

Eva is a curriculum development expert and has developed curriculums in hospitality, tourism, and culinary arts and taught at Spartanburg Technical College for 10 years. Eva is responsible for writing research reports, analysis of databases, and development of the high school DECA and CTTP curriculums currently being used by the University of Tennessee. In her doctoral program, Eva has developed curriculums for Revenue Management in the Hospitality Industry, and is currently completing research on the influence of high school DECA teacher’s influence on student’s choice for hospitality and tourism career choices. Eva can be contacted at esmith54@utk.edu.

Chad Church
Chad Church is a Research Assistant with the Tourism Institute at the University of Tennessee where he is pursuing a Masters degree in Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management. Chad has the responsibility of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and reporting data on trends in the hotel, restaurant, and tourism sectors of the economy. Chad is an expert in data analysis using a variety of statistical software applications. Chad constructs reports and presentations on hospitality and tourism business trends for the Institute.

He has two B.S. degrees from North Carolina Sate University in Business Management (concentration operations management), and Agricultural Business Management (concentration economics). Chad was awarded the Wall Street Journal’s Outstanding Student Achievement Award at NC State University in 2006. At the University of Tennessee, Chad is completing a study on the analysis of golf course Revenue Management techniques. Chad can be contacted at cchurch@utk.edu.