Volume 13, Number 2, 2005
A new hotel (see related article, page 14) and a recently enlarged student-run restaurant have significantly expanded hands-on learning opportunities on campus for students in CHEP’s Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM).
At the same time, the department has greatly enhanced its off-campus experiential learning opportunities, from community service to study abroad.
“Our HRIM students are among the leaders of UD’s new signature service-learning initiative,” Fred DeMicco, ARAMARK Chair and chairperson of the department, says. “As part of the curriculum, they all participate in 100 hours of community service work. This benefits the students as well as the community. When they graduate, they’ll become leaders in the hospitality field, and the businesses they manage—hotels, restaurants—will be cornerstones of their communities. Giving back to the community is positive for business, and it’s the right thing to do.”
HRIM students always have been required to work a total of 800 hours in the hospitality field before graduation. Now, 100 of those hours must be for a nonprofit agency or organization. DeMicco says students do a variety of types of work, from providing desserts to clients of the Newark (Del.) Senior Center to speaking to high school students about the value of a college education.
Pamela Cummings, associate professor of HRIM, has adapted her freshman “Introduction to Hospitality” course to require 20 hours of service learning, in addition to readings and reflection on what the industry can do to alleviate hunger. She calls the service-learning component “an essential part of students’ professional socialization.”
Cummings says she tries to make her students aware of the problems of hunger and poverty and how they can address those problems by applying leadership skills and their knowledge of management and of food sanitation, food safety and food preparation. She has co-written a chapter in a new book, Hospitality With a Heart.
“My hope is that all of our students will be inspired to say that they will never throw food away if it could be saved for a food rescue program,” Cummings says. “We want that concern turned into action.”
One service-learning project Cummings coordinated during the fall semester was the Ministry of Caring’s International Night, in which HRIM students prepared and served jambalaya and other Cajun specialties for 160 diners. The event raised almost $3,000 for the ecumenical ministry’s Emmanuel Dining Rooms, which provide 500-800 free meals daily to needy Delawareans.
“The hospitality industry is a very giving type of occupation,” Deborah Ellingsworth, instructor in HRIM and chef for the International Night dinner, says. “We have a really good group of students who like to be involved. There’s a lot of satisfaction in helping people who aren’t as fortunate as we happen to be.”
In addition to the emphasis on service learning, students in the HRIM program have the benefit of expanded study-abroad choices in preparation for careers in the increasingly global hospitality industry. New partnerships with universities in England and South Africa provide new opportunities for students there and at UD.
The University of Pretoria in the Republic of South Africa has signed a cooperative agreement with UD, in which the two universities will cooperate in the areas of teaching, research, consultations and faculty and graduate student exchanges in the hospitality field.
“The new relationship between our Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management and Pretoria’s Department of Tourism will encourage a more international aspect to the teaching, research and professional education in both departments,” Timothy Barnekov, CHEP dean, says. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students and faculty and for those at the University of Pretoria.”
DeMicco calls South Africa “a significant tourist destination” and adds that HRIM students participated in a successful study-abroad program in Pretoria during Winter Session 2004.
“Our students learned about South Africa’s cultural diversity and its economy, as well as the policy issues related to hospitality and tourism in Africa,” he says. “This agreement will make possible even more, and more varied, educational opportunities for students at both universities.”
Participating graduate students will pay tuition only to their university of origin and must meet the host university’s admission requirements. Each student’s program of study will be determined in advance of the student’s stay at the host university, and each student’s progress will be monitored by the program directors of both universities.
“The agreement also will foster the exchange of researchers and the development of collaborative research programs,” Francis Kwansa, associate professor of HRIM and director of the program at UD, says. “The University of Pretoria is the largest research university in South Africa. We look forward to collaborative research opportunities for students and faculty of both institutions.”
In the other new international partnership, HRIM students will be able to study in the United Kingdom at Leeds Metropolitan University’s UK Centre for Events Management. Events management has become one of the most popular segments of the hospitality field.
“Our students will be able to study events management at one of the leading programs in the world in this new and exciting discipline, and their students can study hotel management at the new UD Marriott Center for Hospitality and Tourism,” DeMicco says.
“In addition to its own hotel, the University of Delaware has particular expertise in hospitality information technology management,” Rai Shacklock, a principal lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University, says. “It’s a splendid combination, and I’m sure that our students will learn a great deal in Delaware.”
The two new study-abroad opportunities enhance an established exchange program between HRIM and the Swiss School of Hotel and Tourism Management in Chur, Switzerland. In that program, HRIM students can spend a semester at the Swiss school and, when they graduate from UD with a bachelor’s degree, also receive a Swiss Higher Diploma while gaining hands-on experience in the European hospitality industry.
DeMicco notes that the international programs are important academically and also present an opportunity for students to gain firsthand experience of another culture.
“Today’s hospitality industry is a truly international one, and foreign study experiences are an important part of our students’ education,” he says.