The School of Hospitality Business is an industry-specific school within the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Founded in 1927 as the nation's first business-based

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 re ...

training course, The School of Hospitality Business now has 579

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

students and 21 faculty members. Students in The School earn more than $300,000 each academic year in merit-based scholarships.

History

MSU's School of Hospitality Business was founded in 1927 when the Education Committee of the Michigan Hotel Association met to discuss development of a college-level hotel management school, after which Michigan State approved a

training course. When classes started, there were 18 students majoring in the hotel training course. In 1947, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation granted $1.4 million for construction of the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. That year, the program was also divided into three major areas of concentration: hotel management, restaurant management, and institutional management. In 1951, Kellogg Center for Continuing Education was opened. The first general manager was Weldon Garrison, a 1946 graduate of ''The'' School of Hospitality Business. The school's offices were moved to the Kellogg Center, enrollment increased to approximately 300, and the Les Gourmets dinner-dance was founded as annual event. In the 1960s, the

Eppley Foundation The Eugene C. Eppley Foundation was founded in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by Omaha hotel magnate Eugene C. Eppley, the foundation was the leading benefactor for several charities and institutions in the Midwestern United States. (This is not to b ...

granted the university $1.5 million to build the Eugene C. Eppley Center for Graduate Studies in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. The school is still housed in this building. The School became the first program in the country to offer a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

(MBA) degree in hotel, restaurant and institutional management, and enrollment reached 550. In the 1980s, CAREER EXPO, the nation's leading hospitality career fair, was founded. Enrollment eclipsed 1,000. Dr. Ronald F. Cichy, an alumnus of the school, was appointed director of the school. The Visiting Distinguished Chefs Series was founded. In the 1990s, the Hilton Lecture Series was founded, the school’s internship office was renamed the Student and Industry Resource Center (SIRC) and was endowed for $1 million, the First Annual Hospitality Association/Alumni Association Auction was held in the Kellogg Center, the Michael L. Minor Master of Science in

Food Service The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...

Management was launched as a complement to the school’s MBA in hospitality business, and the Hospitality Association offered its first Vegas Night. In the 2000s, the school became independent within the Eli Broad College of Business, the school's Alumni Association published 75th anniversary history book ''The Legacy of the Leader'', the master's degree in hospitality business and the graduate specialization in hospitality business were launched, and faculty developed and launched the Hospitality Business

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

and Development Specialization for undergraduates. In 2014, the school launched 12 mini-courses that will be only available online, such as "Introduction to Hospitality and Information Systems," "Private Club and Gaming Operations," and "Foodservice and Lodging Operations." "These mini-courses feature the same content found in the three full 8-week courses, enabling students to complete the same Management Certificate in the Business of Hospitality credential in smaller segments.

Programs

The School of Hospitality Business offers the following programs: *

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(B.A.) in Hospitality Business *Minor in Hospitality Business

Investment Management

Faculty

Among universities specifically with degree-granting hospitality programs, MSU was ranked ninth (or seventh among such

universities in the United States Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education is also referred as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education. It covers stages 5 to 8 ...

), in terms of weighted-publication-count (2002-2006) in English-language research journals specific to the hospitality industry. The School’s faculty was ranked number one by the '' Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research'' in “mean productivity” from 1992–2001, and in having "the most intensely" contributing authors amongst the Top 20 universities. In another study, reported on by the ''Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education'', a half dozen faculty members of The School of Hospitality Business were named among “Hospitality’s Most Influential Scholars.” The faculty also received the 2006 Richard J. Lewis Quality of Excellence Award for outstanding leadership.Faculty of ''The'' School of Hospitality Business
/ref> Notable faculty include: * Dr. Michael Kasavana, a leading expert on hospitality

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

. He has authored 6 books, coined the phrase "v-commerce," and is considered the world's expert on this concept. Dr. Kasavana is the recipient of the MSU Distinguished Faculty Award, and was the first recipient of a Distinguished Achievements Award from FS/TEC. * Dr. Bonnie Knutson, an authority on consumer lifestyle and buying trends, strategic

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, and

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

. She is currently the editor of the ''Journal of Hospitality and Marketing'', a national scholar of the National Advertising Foundation, a winner of the Golden Key Teaching Excellence Award, and the coveted Withrow Award for excellence in teaching and research. * Dr. Jack Ninemeier, the author of 42 books utilized both in the industry and in classrooms around the world. * Dr. Raymond Schmidgall, the

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

Professor of Hospitality Financial Management and an accounting and

financial management Financial management is the business function concerned with profitability, expenses, cash and credit, so that the "organization may have the means to carry out its objective as satisfactorily as possible;" the latter often defined as maximizin ...

expert. He has authored 2 books on the topics of hospitality accounting and finance currently used at leading hospitality institutions around the world.

Students

Students team with faculty and the alumni association to produce several major events each year: * Career Expo, one of the longest-running career fairs on campus. Hospitality companies attend this fall semester event to recruit students as interns and permanent employees. * The annual Destination Auction, the main fundraising event for the student Hospitality Association. A portion of the proceeds of this event are given to local charities. * Les Gourmets, a black-tie, seven-course reception and dinner each spring that showcases the talents of hundreds of students. Undergraduate students have the opportunity to join the Spartan Sponsors Mentor Program, which pairs each student with an alumnus/a who shares the student's career interest to provide advice, knowledge, support and shared connections. The relationship is maintained throughout the student's undergraduate education.

References

External links