The Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA, more commonly known as the Hotel School) at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
is a specialized
business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...
in the SC Johnson College of Business at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
located in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
. Founded in 1922, it was the world's first four-year intercollegiate school devoted to
hospitality management Hospitality management may refer to:
*Hospitality industry
The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It inc ...
.
The undergraduate business curriculum at SHA is one of only three such Ivy League programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Students in the Hotel School are referred to as Hotelies. Participants come from all over the world to take classes at such locations as
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
;
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
;
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
; and site visits in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
History
![Statler Hotel, Cornell University](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Statler_Hotel%2C_Cornell_University.jpg)
The nature of SHA was in large part the creation of professor
Howard B. Meek. He was supported in his efforts by New York City hotel men, a number of whom testified in
Albany, urging the legislature to appropriate $11,000 per year for the school. Edward M. Tierney of the
Ansonia Hotel
The Ansonia is a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, located at 2109 Broadway, between 73rd and 74th Streets. It was originally built as a residential hotel by William Earle Dodge Stokes, the Phelps-Dodge copper heir ...
stated "There is a dearth of competent hotel , and such a course at Cornell would have the endorsement and co-operation of the hotel men generally throughout the country... The war brought a great change in the hotel worker, and the old-time attitude of servility has been replaced by efficient service giving and courtesy. Young men now enter the hotel business just as they would banking, railroad, or commercial life, to find a future in it, and the hotel man must offer the same attractions of commensurate pay and advancement."
In 1927, at the 2nd Annual
Hotel Ezra Cornell
Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC) is an annual weekend-long educational conference put on by the students of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration for leaders of the hospitality industry. Composed of educational seminars, leisure activities, and food ...
, Meek convinced a skeptical
Ellsworth Milton Statler
Ellsworth Milton (E. M.) Statler (October 26, 1863 – April 16, 1928) was an American hotel businessman, founder of the Statler Hotels chain, born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Statler built his first permanent hotel in 1907, in ...
of the value of the concept; Statler declared "I'm converted. Meek can have any damn thing he wants." Statler and his wife became major benefactors of the school, eventually donating a total of more than $10 million. In 1950, the school was transformed from being a part of, Cornell's School of Home Economics (now the School of Human Ecology), a
statutory college
In American higher education, particular to the state of New York, a statutory college or contract college is a college or school that is a component of an independent, private university that has been designated by the state legislature to rece ...
, into becoming a separate, endowed unit of Cornell.
In 1948, the Statler Foundation funded the construction of a 50-room Statler Inn and the adjoining class-room building called Statler Hall. The building also housed Cornell's faculty club. The 750-seat Alice Statler Auditorium was added to the southern end in 1956. In 1986, the original Statler Inn was torn down and replaced with the current 150-room Statler Hotel & J. Willard Marriott Executive Education Center. The Statler Hotel underwent another renovation in 2006 and now has 153 guest rooms. The Statler Hotel is the only hotel on campus.
On January 28, 2016, the Cornell Board of Trustees authorized the design and implementation of a plan for a Cornell College of Business, comprising the university's three exceptional accredited business schools: the Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA), the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management (Dyson), and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management (Johnson). The new Cornell College of Business began enrollment in the fall of 2016.
Profile
![Robert A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Robert_A._and_Jan_M._Beck_Center%2C_Cornell_University.jpg)
The school enrolled 895 undergraduates and 67 graduate students in 2011, hailing from almost 50 countries; it is Cornell's second smallest undergraduate college. Its curriculum encompasses all facets of general business management with a focus on the hospitality industry. Although not required, many students choose to work at the Statler Hotel to supplement their education at the school. SHA employs 65 full-time faculty members, most with field management experience.
In 1954,
Conrad Hilton
Conrad Nicholson Hilton Sr. (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American businessman who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916 Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disil ...
, who was closely associated with the school after his company bought the Statler hotel chain, called it "the greatest hotel school in the world." Conrad Hilton later became more closely associated with another school after he founded the
Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management
The Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership (Hilton College) is a college at the University of Houston, a public research university in Houston, Texas, focused on hospitality. It is one of 13 academic colleges at the university ...
at the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
in 1969.
SHA's course catalog includes several offerings for students in other Cornell colleges, notably HADM 4300, Introduction to Wines, a
wine tasting
Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional w ...
course which enrolls 600–900 students each semester, as well as a 2-credit cooking course.
SHA also runs technical courses such as Real Estate Finance and Investments (HADM 4428), Securitization and Structured Finance (HADM 4425), and Investment Portfolio Analysis (HADM 4429). Roughly 40% of undergraduates go into banking or consulting fields after graduation.
In a 2007 Newsweek article dubbing Cornell the "Hottest Ivy", SHA was mentioned to be "considered the world's best." The School was ranked the No. 1 hospitality and hotel management school in the world for 2015 by CEOWORLD magazine.
Fictional Hotelies have included:
* In ''
Absurdistan'' by
Gary Shteyngart
Gary Shteyngart (; born July 5, 1972) is a Soviet-born American writer. He is the author of five novels (including ''Absurdistan'' and ''Super Sad True Love Story'') and a memoir. Much of his work is satirical.
Early life
Born Igor Semyonovich ...
, a hotel manager attended the Cornell University Nolan School of Hotel Administration
* In ''
Dirty Dancing
''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Houseman ...
'', Neil graduated from Cornell's School of Hotel Management
* In ''
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
'' by
Arthur Hailey, Peter McDermott, manager of the St. Gregory.
* In ''
30 Rock
''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...
'',
Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan is a fictional character in the American television series ''30 Rock'', played by the actor Tracy Morgan. The character is a movie star whose personality traits and life events are taken from Morgan's own life. In 2010, ''Entertain ...
's friend, Fat Balls
* In ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
'', Gary Walsh says he graduated with a degree in Hotel Management from Cornell University.
Some notable alumni of the school include the founders of
Alamo Rent-A-Car
Alamo Rent a Car is a rental car agency based in Clayton, Missouri, United States. The company has branches across North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Oceania. Alamo is owned by Enterprise Holdings, along with othe ...
;
Arby's
Arby's is an American fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide and third in terms of revenue. In October 2017, '' Food & Wine'' called Arby's "America's second largest sandwich chain (after Subway)".
Ar ...
;
Burger King
Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
;
Dunkin' Donuts
Dunkin' Donuts LLC, also known as Dunkin' and by the initials DD, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg (1916–2002) in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 195 ...
; Duty Free Shoppers Group ;
Shake Shack
Shake Shack is an American fast casual restaurant chain based in New York City. It started out as a hot dog cart inside Madison Square Park in 2001, and its popularity steadily grew. In 2004, it received a permit to open a permanent kiosk with ...
;
HVS Global Hospitality Services
HVS is a consulting firm that specializes in providing services to the hospitality industry. As of 2020, HVS operated out of 47 offices located in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. HVS offers expertise across all types of h ...
; Lyft and
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
Global Hospitality Consulting. (For more,
List of Cornell University alumni
This list of Cornell University alumni includes notable graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Cornell University. Cornell counted 245,027 living alumni as of August 2008. Its alumni includes 25 recipients of National M ...
)
Statler Hotel
The full-service Statler Hotel has 153 guest rooms at the center of Cornell's campus. The hotel also serves as a primary teaching tool for the Nolan School of Hotel Administration. Each year more than 200 SHA students work alongside professionals in a range of hotel and restaurant operations.
In 2011, 2012, and 2013, the Statler Hotel was awarded a 4-diamond rating by AAA. In January, 2020, hotel executiv
Arthur Keithwas named its new General Manager.
The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship
The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship
Center for Hospitality Research
The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) is a service of the Cornell University Nolan School of Hotel Administration
for the hospitality industry. With the support of industry partners
the center promotes, supports, and distributes hospitality research. Three series of center publications are posted at no charge on its site chr.cornell.edu.
They are Cornell Hospitality Reports, Cornell Hospitality Tools, and Industry Perspectives. In addition, the center is the publisher of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, now entering its sixth decade of publication, which is available by subscription only.
The center's research agenda promotes studies that have direct implications for improving hospitality operations, but must be based on solid theoretical and procedural principles. The free reports and tools are more practitioner oriented, while the award-winning Quarterly includes more of the theory and educational content appropriate for students and academics.
The center also produces a series of industry roundtables and participates in high level industry conferences
to share research findings.
Publications
''Cornell Hospitality Reports
'' shares the knowledge created by center fellows and other researchers.
''Cornell Hospitality Tools
'' - web-based interactive tools for the hospitality industry.
''Cornell Hospitality Quarterly
'' - a leading academic journal for the hospitality industry.
''Industry Perspective: A White Paper Series from Cornell
'' - provide insight from hospitality industry leaders on the issues that matter most to senior executives and hospitality practitioners.
''Hospitality Roundtable Proceedings
'' - offer a thorough report on roundtable's deliberations.
''Best Practices
'' - identified and recognized Best Practive Champions across all segments of the U.S. lodging industry.
Notes
References
*Huxtable, Ada Louise (1973), "Hospitality and the Plastic Esthetic", ''The New York Times'', October 14, 1973, p. 153
*''New York Times'', January 22, 1922, p. 33: "Hotel Men Approve Cornell Training: Hope Legislature Will Appropriate $11,000 a Year for Educating Help."
History of the Hotel School"Meek can have any damn thing he wants."
* Brad Edmonson, ''Hospitality Leadership: The Cornell Hotel School.'' (1996)
External links
*
Cornell Center for Hospitality Research
{{Authority control
Hotel Administration
A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, ...
Hotel Administration
A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, ...
Hotels in New York (state)
Hospitality schools in the United States
1922 establishments in New York (state)
Educational institutions established in 1922