A rendering of the Jonesboro Embassy Suites hotel and convention center that is set to open in December.
Arkansas State University intends to fill a lot of jobs through its planned hospitality management program.
It has to fill one job before that can happen.
The university is in the process of hiring a managing director of hospitality before it begins enrollment in the program, which will be based in the new Embassy Suites by Hilton Jonesboro Red Wolf Convention Center on campus.
“That position closed on the 20th so the committee should be meeting in the next few weeks to start the interview process for the candidates,” said Karen McDaniel, chair of the ASU Marketing and Management Department, among her other responsibilities.
The university is seeking someone from the industry field who has done current research and has a strong foundation in teaching. The managing director will be expected to build relationships within the regional hospitality industry and establish internships for students.
With the current academic year and spring semester underway, McDaniel said the hope is to have someone hired by the start of the next academic year in August. With that timetable, she said the hospitality management program wouldn’t begin until at least a year from now, if not as late as August 2021.
A curriculum would have to be established and approved by department, college and university committees as well as going through several university levels of approval.
“It’s a little hard to project that right now. We are hopeful,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said interest in the hospitality management program is high and the university has been hearing from parents hoping their high school-aged kids will be able to enroll.
“Our dean has told me that we have high school students asking about the hospitality program,” McDaniel said. “I was talking with [Embassy Suites and convention center General Manager] Kraig Pomrenke and he was telling me this is such a good field for millennials because it’s flexible and it seems to be a hot topic for young people right now. And there’s such a demand for hospitality workers at all levels.”
While there are still things to accomplish before the program is up and running, ASU is nonetheless easing into the hospitality management arena.
There is a hospitality emphasis available under the current management degree, and McDaniel is teaching a leadership development class in the Embassy Suites living laboratory as part of the MBA in leadership.
McDaniel has attended international hospitality courses in New Orleans and Las Vegas, the latter conducted by the University of Nevada-Las Vegas’ highly regarded hospitality management program.
She noted that leadership management and management degree students have either completed internships or are already applying their hospitality emphasis experience in the job market. One former intern has been hired full time by Embassy Suites.
“They are already putting our students to work and giving them experience, which is incredible,” McDaniel said.
Pomrenke was conducting a convention center tour for a class on Wednesday, McDaniel said, and Henry Burrell, general manager of the attached Houlihan’s restaurant, is expected to speak to a class at some point this semester on the subjects of networking and communication.
“That’s kind of exciting to bridging with them already even though we haven’t started the program yet,” McDaniel said.
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