Ed.D., Gwynedd Mercy University
M.Ed., Clemson University
B.A., SUNY New Paltz
Dr. Duchamp serves as the inaugural assistant dean for online education at the Wegmans School of Nursing. He is responsible for the online M.S. in Nursing program. Damien has been engaged in online pedagogy since 2014 when he became the first instructor for Online Teaching Essentials and Advanced Online Teaching Strategies at St. John's University.
Damien was born in France, and grew up simultaneously in Paris and Woodstock, NY. After completing a degree at SUNY New Paltz, he started his first career in student affairs. Over thirteen years he worked in residence life and student activities with stops at Old Dominion, Longwood, Indiana State and St. John's. Highlights include producing major concerts with Gym Class Heroes, Ne-Yo, Common, The Roots, Ciara, and The All American Rejects. With experience in event planning he became an adjunct in hospitality at St. John's in 2010, launching a second career in academic affairs.
Prior to becoming a full time academic, Damien was engaged in launching brands and franchise concepts such as Cook&Go; developing a POS system for Recruit; and representing Evian Water in New York City. While serving as an adjunct instructor and growing into a department head, Dr. Duchamp founded Hospitalented.org to offer hospitality and tourism education to those that don't generally have access, as well as tackle topics ahead of the curve. This resulted in conferences like Not So Scary Foods (plants, bugs), unique courses (dark tourism, nightlife management), and blockchain think tanks (Bitcoin, Ethereum).
Damien's early doctoral work at Indiana State was focused on racial identity theory and student development, but this shifted when he became a hospitality and tourism professor. For his doctoral research, he explored perceptions of the tourism industry in Ghana, cementing his love for West Africa. Passionate about customer service and hospitality, he has hosted countless tourism workshops, developed certificate programs and new curriculums, and is currently writing a book on tourism entrepreneurship.
When time permits, Dr. Duchamp works on global education and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) projects through Hospitalented, TravelUnity.org, and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. He is especially committed to helping communities expand their economy through tourism - which requires significant skill development. Dr. Duchamp is a firm believer that almost anything can become a tourism site with a little creativity. He is currently engaged in a fashion ecosystem (education, upcycling, tourism) project in Cameroon with FICOTA, and developing tourism applications using NFTs and augmented reality on the SuperWorld platform.