CAFNR program undergoes major changes

by Cathy Crowley, posted Dec. 12, 2011

One of MU's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources programs has made a major name change, literally. The Hotel and Restaurant Management major has been given the new title of Hospitality Management.

The program was originally called Food Services and Lodging upon its creation in the early '80s. The name was changed to Hotel and Restaurant Management in the 1990s.

The next name change occurred just this past spring, when CAFNR Dean, Thomas Payne, and staff approved a new name for the third time in the program's history.

"Hospitality expands the scope," said James Groves, program chair and associate professor. "We can expand to private club, resort and cruise line management someday."

According to program website, the hospitality management program "develops students to be responsible citizens and successful, ethical hospitality leaders in today's global community."

There are four management emphasis areas for students enrolled in the major to choose from: lodging, food and beverage, conference and events, and sport venue. The sport venue emphasis area is the newest emphasis area, introduced at the same time as the degree name change. It has quickly become one of the degree's most popular emphasis areas. Mizzou is one of the first universities in the country to offer a sport venue management major.

There are currently more than 400 students enrolled in the hospitality management program. Fifty of those are freshmen, which is a new record for the program. It is the third largest major in CAFNR. It also has the highest percentage of students who transfer from other programs and colleges at Mizzou into CAFNR.

Hospitality Management students get hands-on experiences before even leaving MU. An individualized internship is required of each student with the help of his or her adviser, regardless of which emphasis area he or she is in. For instance, sport venue management students work at Kansas City Chiefs games, where they learn about what goes into preparing the facility, getting ready for game day and for concerts.

"We do a good job of getting our students exposed to the industry, helping them find jobs and internships," Groves said. "We have better contacts in the industry than other schools."

CAFNR's hospitality management program has an 85 percent job placement rate for graduates.

"Those that want to get jobs have a 100 percent placement," Groves said. "There's a high demand for trained managers. Students have never been out of work for a long time."

Another part of the success of the Hospitality Management program comes from its faculty. Both Groves and CAFNR's academic and career adviser, Kara Ebe, are enthusiastic about the quality and the connections of the professors.

"The faculty over in the hospitality management department have really, really strong ties to the industry, which really helps the students," Ebe said. "A big part of it is the nature of the work that these students are going into is a necessity."

The addition of sport venue management has brought new faculty members to help teach the subject.

Not only did the major get a change, but the major's study abroad program did too.

Before sport venue management was added, students would travel to Florence, Italy, in the summer and go behind-the-scenes at restaurants throughout the city. Now, students who participate in the study abroad trip can choose to focus on restaurant management, conference and events planning, or sport venue management while in Italy.

Lenore Ball, the administrative assistant in the hospitality management department, quickly adapted to greeting those over the phone with "hospitality management," but there is one thing that hasn't changed: the message on the answering machine.

"I keep forgetting to change it," Ball said, laughing.

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