The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation agreed to aid the funding and establishment of a new Hospitality and Tourism Center at BYU–Hawaii, announced University Relations on Dec. 3.
The plan has been years in the making, according to the newly named executive director of the center, Professor David Preece.
“It’s really been a long process from start to finish,” said Preece, who is the chair and assistant professor of the Department of Business Management. “And it’s not finished, but it’s at the end of the planning stage. Now we’re at implementation.”
Preece cited three strategic goals of the center: academic enhancement, program expansion, and industry engagement. He said he expects curriculum adjustments will be implemented by Fall 2016 to add “depth, breadth, and flexibility for students to tailor their pursuits to their career.”
Richard Marriott, a former PCC board member, helped get funding from the Marriott Foundation to add features to the center’s offerings. According to Preece, these include lecture series, expansion of internship opportunities, a Marriott Scholars program, and an advisory council of about 12 leaders from various industries.
“We want to take full advantage of the new hotel next door in the form of a three credit course,” said Preece, “where students get to go to the hotel or the PCC and observe as well as do things with their sales and marketing teams.”
According to Preece, a new building will not be constructed, but the new center will operate similar to the Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship in which courses are offered, but instructors who teach could come from various academic departments.
“The global tourism industry is one of the largest in the world, and it’s even bigger in the university’s primary target area, Asia-Pacific, which means a lot of jobs for students because the industry is growing fast there. Those associated with the program always felt that it had a great growth potential and provided a wide range of career opportunities for students, but there was a need to [...] make changes in the way the program was structured,” said Preece. “It needed to be a free-standing entity.”
Established in 1998, the HTM program fluctuated in its number of students, said Preece, until about eight years ago when it was put under the Business Management Department and has remained stable at roughly 125 students.
One of those students, Dylan Miyasaki, a sophomore from Utah, said he chose his major because he enjoys working with people. “I love to see people happy and enjoying themselves and HTM gives me so many chances to do that in the future,” said Miyasaki.
“What I have heard so far about the new center is that it will be a great, new resource for all of the students studying HTM… [which] is a big major here and is really important for Hawaii and its future. With the new center, we should have more opportunities to be better prepared for future careers.”
Although much needs to be done over the next 12 months, Preece said he’s ready and excited to see it all roll out. “I’m most excited at the prospects for our students to have a better learning experience here and be better prepared for a great career in the industry.”