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Online | HTM – Innovative HTM Master’s Program Debuts

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Brian Hughes

Instructor Brian Hughes
General Manager, Omni San Diego Hotel

The American hospitality industry is one of the largest employers in the nation after the U.S. government. Comprised of multiple segments, the industry includes hotels, restaurants, resorts and casinos, theme parks, cruise lines, travel and tourism, recreation, and meeting and event management.

As the field continues to grow – both here and abroad – its appetite for new leadership candidates is nothing short of voracious.

While SDSU’s still young and vibrant L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management has crafted an enviable reputation during its first decade for producing top-notch young leaders, the school’s focus has been – appropriately – aimed at entry-level managerial positions.

But that’s about to change.

In the summer of 2012, the Payne School offered a Master’s of Science in Hospitality and Tourism Management degree targeted at working industry professionals with at least five to 15 years of demonstrated leadership experience. This new program was designed to take the up-and-coming, mid-level executive in the industry and prepare them for the next stage of their careers and, hopefully, put them on the path to the executive suite. With that goal in mind, the program’s structure is somewhat unconventional.

The HTM Master’s approach permits the degree candidate to stay in his or her job while completing the degree requirements because 95% of the content will be delivered in a hybrid online format. There are only two required weeks on campus: one at the front end of the program and one to conclude it. The balance of the 30-credit curriculum will be delivered in a largely asynchronous format so that the candidates can effectively manage their degree work with the demands of their day-to-day career and familial responsibilities.

The degree is designed to be completed in only 15 months and students will move through the curriculum as a cohort made up of veterans of each of the key hospitality segments: hotels, restaurants, gaming, recreation and tourism, and meeting and events management.

The program features a world-class faculty that combines decades of industry experience with significant classroom credentials and the course content has been designed to mirror the real-world problems and challenges that up-and-coming leaders will have to master in this new century.

Students will be assessed prior to starting the program and – to the extent feasible – their path through the program will reflect the opportunities and gaps identified in those assessments. “This will be a very intense but useful experience for the students that can gain acceptance,” says Jeff Campbell, program director and former CEO of Burger King Corporation and senior vice president of the Pepsi-Cola Company. “Rather than an exercise in ticket-punching, the HTM Master’s will be all about giving each student a meaningful, personal competitive edge.


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