Meeting & Agendas

Michelle called the meeting to order at 11:40am.

Michelle welcomed all of the attendees to the Spring 2018 advisory board meeting and opened the floor to all attendees as they went around and introduced themselves. Michelle welcomed new members Rob Gillette and Britt Udemi. Michelle introduced the board to Lorlie Ellis, the new Dean of Business Studies. Liz Hundley introduced Jason Brown, ACC-Eastview's CHT Advisor, to the advisory board. Michelle expressed her gratitude for the board and their contributions.

Michelle updated the board on our programs. Three programs all under her, which are Hospitality, Meeting & Event Planning, and Travel & Tourism. They work closely with Culinary and Pastry, but they have their own Department Chair and advisory board. The 3 programs have about 250 students with most of them being in Hospitality and then Meeting & Event Planning. Travel & Tourism has a lot less students, which will be discussed later because the program needs some changes. In 2017 the department had 27 graduates and in 2018 there have been 22. Over 80% of our students are part time; a majority of them work full-time in addition to going to school. A couple of years ago U of H opened up a Jr/Sr college in San Antonio. The department works closely with them and have a degree that directly transfers into their programs. December was their first graduating class and we had 3 former students graduate. A few things that have happened in the last year; last summer students went to Italy to complete Internship in all Hospitality and Culinary Programs. Unfortunately, this summer it do not make. The programs predict that it will make every other year as it is expensive and will require students to plan and save. The programs hosted the Career Fair in October and was a success. They had over 50 companies. Students also receive a weekly email that includes job and internship opportunities. With the internships students are required to complete 240 hours and have supervisory/managerial experiences. The goal of the internship is to prepare a student to transition into a supervisory and managerial role. Students are responsible for securing their own internships. They must apply/submit resume, interview, etc. just like they would for a job. For the internship to count for course credit the students must be completed with 70% of their degree plan. Students may complete internships on their own to obtain experience which do not count towards college credit. Michelle was asked about class sizes and whether or not the department utilizes guest speakers and/or site visits. The maximum size for a class is 20 students and the least amount would be 12 students. The programs do rely on the assistance of industry professionals to host site visits and come to the classes to speak. We are trying to bridge the gap between the programs and high schools. Michelle is also on the board of AHLA and on the education committee. She is hosting a career day in the hopes of creating a better understanding of the programs and the industry at large. Showing students all of the options and possibilities that are available in the industry. There will be a panel discussion so that students can hear about different experiences and success stories. Then they will have small break out tables where students will learn about things such as resumes, interview tips, industry tracks, professionalism, etc. Highland is still scheduled for 2020. When we get near the deadline for technology we will be contacting the board to get their feedback.

To keep up current trends are the department is offering more online and hybrid courses. To ensure that the students are still getting the best learning opportunities, all of the distance learning instructors are completing the Quality Matters Training. Liz shared the different types of technologies that are being used in the classrooms. In the computer class they use different programs like Hotel Sales Pro. Hotel Sales Pro is also used in Sales & Marketing. Finance class does 9 modules in Accknowledge. Social Tables is used in catering. We will have to start being paid for Social Tables as they got rid of their free option. Opera and Aloha are also briefly taught. We currently use Sales and Service Pro, but they just got bought out. They are coming out with an educational portion of Hot Sauce Mild. Which is great because most hotels are using Hot Sauce. This will give the students a better insight into the industry. Michelle is hoping to implement it into her classes next spring. Liz has been in talks with Red Global so that she can start using their software in the fall. We are also looking into Peachtree for our students.

There is a new degree in the works. It is a Hospitality and Culinary Entrepreneurship Degree. The programs have a lot of students that come into the programs wanting to open their own small business upon completion of the courses and we thought this would provide them with some more focused knowledge/skill set. The way the program would work for both Hospitality and Culinary programs would be the set up of the restrictive electives. The restrictive electives would provide a hospitality course for the hospitality students and a culinary course for culinary. The programs propose two new classes that we would be adding to make this happen; 1. The first one would be a local needs course which would be licensing and permits. This would focus on Austin and Texas' licenses and permits. It would cover things such which ones they would need, how to get them, why they are important, etc. 2. The second would be a special topics course which would focus on a business plan. Throughout the class the students would build an actual business plan for the business which they are wishing to open. The goal is to have learn about what is needed for one and build upon theirs each week. At the end, they would have a plan that they could present and then hopefully use in real life. The advisory board voted 4 to 0 in favor of both of the classes and the degree. The discussion of internship also came up for this degree. Michelle told the board she would send out the specifics of the courses once they are developed. Michelle noted that the hospitality internship is 3 credit hours and is transferable. Culinary currently offers a 2 credit hours class. The board suggested that everyone enrolling in this degree should complete the 3 hour class that is transferable. They also reinforced the idea that the internship for this degree focus more of the managerial side of running a business. They suggested students complete an internship on their own or as part of another one of the degree options for more hands on training such as working front desk, back of the house, on the line in a kitchen. Many years ago the beverage classes were moved from Hospitality to Culinary. This was because the department chair of culinary was very passionate about beverage and was a sommelier. The classes are not currently running. It has been faded out of the degree plans. Michelle feels as though beverage has become a hot topic in Austin. Eventually, the department would like to offer a beverage management degree, but in the meantime, it would be ideal to transfer these back to the hospitality side as they are management courses. We do have instructors that are able to teach them as well. The department want to stay in line with what is happening in the industry and in education. The advisory board suggested that it be moved over from culinary in order to create a beverage management degree in the future. Lastly, just to put a bug in their ear as we are nearing the end of the meeting, the department will be following up on an email in regards to the Travel & Tourism program. Over the last several years the degrees have been updated and re-updated to gain attraction. This has not been the case. The department is thinking it might be ideal to change the degree towards the Entrepreneurship for Travel. The courses would still be offered but as an electives.

Michelle called the meeting to a close at 1:04pm