College of Hospitality and Tourism Management
“Spend a Day with an Alumni” Program
May 2008
In the Fall 2005, the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management in conjunction with the Alumni Council of the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management launched the “Spend a Day with an Alumni” program. The program is designed to tap into the valuable experience of our alumni and give the students an opportunity to see what “a day in the life” is all about for those Alumni in different occupational areas of this industry. By pairing up students with Alumni from their field of interest, we provide an opportunity for the students to go on-site to the Alumni’s place of business, to experience the daily operations of the vast occupations in this industry.
Alumni need to gain their employers support and cooperation in providing such an experience for the student, and they must define a clear outline of activities for the day that the student will partake in while on site. The student must have completed at least 60 credit hours of coursework and/or be of Junior status and maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher. Alumni and students are partnered according to the area of interest. Only one student will be assigned to one Alumnus. The date (of the visit to the Alumnus’s place of business) is mutually agreed upon by the student and the Alumnus, but is to take place between October and May of the respective academic school year. The student is responsible for getting themselves to and from the Alumnus’s place of business and is responsible for all costs associated with such travel. The student completes a one page report after their visit with the Alumni. These reports are monitored so that everyone has his or her expectations met.
The “Spend a Day with an Alumni” Committee reviews all applications and selects Alumnus-Student pairings. Both parties are informed of their match and provided contact information for each other so that a date can be set.
Applications for students are being accepted. The deadline for student applications is September 26, 2008. Please click on this link to complete the online form. Students will be notified of their acceptance into the program by October 3, 2008, along with their assigned Alumnus. The Alumnus will be notified of their assigned student the same day. We try to pair every student with an Alumnus in the student’s primary area of interest. If an Alumnus is not available, then the student is contacted to discuss the potential of working with an Alumnus in their second choice of interest. The student may make the decision to drop out of the program if a suitable Alumnus is not available.
On Friday afternoon, October 10, 2008 during Career Day, there will be a meeting for all Alumni (active in this program) and students that have been chosen for the program. We will discuss more details of the program and you will hear directly from students and Alumni that participated in last year’s program. This will also give the teams a chance to meet personally. Participating students in the program will be required to attend and we strongly encourage every Alumnus that will be in the program to attend. More information will be forth coming on this meeting.
We hope that this program will be rewarding to both the Alumni and the student. For further information, please contact any member of the “Spend a Day with an Alumni” Committee:
Diana Dillinger, CMP
Senior Meeting Planner
Precept Medical Communications
Diana.Dillinger@preceptmedical.com
Carlyn Jablonski
Meeting Planner
Wachovia Corporate Meeting and Event Services
Carlyn.Jablonski@wachovia.com
Students can also visit Professor Steve Siegel in his office on the 4th Floor of the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management for an application as well.
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