-= NMSU PANORAMA - Summer 2005 =- Around Aggieland: HRTM Department Upgraded to a School

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› NMSU Launches Fourth Microfilm Project in Mexico
› HRTM Department Upgraded to a School
› Faculty Named to Endowed Positions, Regents Professorships
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HRTM Department Upgraded to a School

By Kevin Robinson-Avila

Students opting for degrees in hotel, restaurant and tourism management will benefit from enriched curriculum, more educational resources and greater industry prestige upon graduation thanks to the HRTM Department's July 1 upgrade to a school.

Since the department's creation in 1988, the College of Agriculture and Home Economics has managed HRTM. As a school, it will now also report to the College of Business.

"This is a major leap forward in NMSU's effort to create multidisciplinary schools that draw on the resources of two or more colleges," says Garrey Carruthers, dean of the College of Business. "It's a win-win situation for students who will benefit from the best that both our colleges have to offer."

HRTM graduates already take many business courses, including hospitality accounting, finance, law and human resources. But until now, HRTM undergraduates could only pursue a master's degree with a concentration in tourism through Family and Consumer Sciences.

As a school, the business college expects to offer students the opportunity to earn an MBA with a specialization in hotel, restaurant and tourism management, says Janet Green, interim head of HRTM. Business classes will be taught by the College of Business, freeing up HRTM faculty members to add curriculum in food and hotel management.

"It's a much more efficient arrangement," Green says.

NMSU currently ranks 21st among 115 college programs by the International Council of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Educators. It may now enjoy greater prestige, given that only eight of the top 25 HRTM programs nationwide are administered as separate schools.

"As a school, we expect it to attract more students and qualified faculty, and more monetary resources to improve labs, add educational materials and increase scholarships," Green says.

For example, the HRTM upgrade could strengthen NMSU efforts to attract private investment in a campus-based hotel and conference center connected to HRTM, she says.

NMSU is the only four-year university in New Mexico and West Texas that offers an HRTM degree. It's currently at record enrollment with more than 300 students. Graduates enjoy a 95 percent job placement rate, including high-paying positions in New Mexico's tourism industry.

"It's a jewel," says Jerry Schickedanz, dean of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. "Students get job offers before they even graduate."

Carruthers says HRTM helps keep graduates in the state. "It's one of the few programs that might actually allow a student from a place like Bloomfield to go back home and work after graduation."

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