Greetings!  

Wow! What a busy time for us at the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. We're delighted that Bob and Patty Payne made a significant naming gift to the school this year. If you haven't come to campus to see the naming recognition wall, expect a great piece of visual storytelling. We are truly indebted to the Paynes for lending us their name as well as their resources to help protect our school in this time of economic uncertainty.

Read on to hear more from Carl Winston.     

A Message from Brian Blake  

During the spring semester, HTM students attended conferences locally and across the country. Last November, the American Hotel & Lodging Association's fall conference was held in conjunction with the International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show in New York City. Thirty-six of our students attended, meeting with alumni, taking tours of several hotels, and enjoying a full roster of events, including the "Women in Lodging" luncheon. (Considering over half our grads are women, could another student chapter be far behind?) You'll read about some of those conferences in this newsletter. Natalie Franzone-Cohen '11 and Sammie Bass '11 were at this year's InnSpire Conference, and Brittanie Martinez '12 organized the 13^th Annual High School Hospitality Conference on the U.S.S. Midway Museum...with 400 attendees!

Read on to hear more from Brian. 

The 13^th Annual High School Hospitality Conference convened Friday, March 11, aboard the U.S.S. Midway Museum. Sponsored by HSMAI, CH&LA, CRA, HFTP, and Johnson & Wales, this well-attended conference (400 participants!) was geared toward San Diego County high schools that maintain hospitality or culinary programs.  Students who attended learned about the range of possibilities within our growing industry.

Read on to hear more about this amazing event at the U.S.S. Midway. 

In late January, the CH&LA Education Foundation arranged for HTM students Natalie Franzone-Cohen '11 and Samantha Bass '11 to attend the Innkeeping as a Professional Program and the recent InnSpire Conference at the Mission Valley Marriott Hotel. Natalie and Sammie are members of the AH&LA/CH&LA Student Chapter. Their experience at the InnSpire conference confirmed what they needed to know to move forward.

Read on to hear about their experiences.

In mid-February an unprecedented alliance between the San Diego student chapters of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA) and the Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP) produced a joint conference held at the Sheraton Harbor Island. Among those in attendance were Ryann Hastings '11, the AH&LA Liaison of the HTMSA's student chapter.

Read on to hear about student Ryann Hasting's experience.

Cinthia Cruz, class of 2010, traveled to Cartagena, Colombia, to work for Hilton Hotels in August 2010. Even after a short time, she knew how much her HTM studies informed what she did and how she did it...read on to hear about her experience.

March 8 marked the launch of the L. Robert Payne School of HTM's Institute for Meetings and Events' (IME) first symposium for nonprofits. The seminar featured a panel of meeting industry leaders and community volunteers who addressed a long-standing issue among San Diego's 9000-plus nonprofits: "Events: Are They Worth It?" The morning of information and education was organized and orchestrated by IME Associate Director Rachel Peniche and Patti Roscoe, founder and chairman of the Board of Advisors of IME, who said, "We were very pleased with the response to this first symposium presented by IME and look forward to future programs on the many topics that challenge the meetings and events discipline."

Read on.

Nothing succeeds like success. And a story never hurts. Two alums - Sarah Major '05 and Zachary Parker '08 - took divergent paths to their HTM futures, but both have achieved dreams they seeded in our program, even if it isn't quite the garden they thought they'd grow. So whether your future stays as local as your laptop computer or as far-reaching as a remote village in Papua New Guinea, our students are going places... (In another twist, another HTM alum, Matt Lemmo '10, was in Papua New Guinea as Zack's field worker!)

Read on to hear about Sarah's experience.

Read on to hear about Zach's experience.