Thinking and Acting Strategically
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech is one of the premier public universities in the United States. The university's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities. The Pamplin College of Business exemplifies the forward thinking and innovation that has made Virginia Tech the university of choice for corporate partners around the globe.
By moving the Hospitality and Tourism Management Department to the Pamplin College of Business, we are capturing the synergies of two outstanding programs. Pamplin is consistently recognized as a top 40 business school by US News and World Report, while our HTM faculty was recently ranked number three in the world by Hotels Magazine. The program is one of less than 10 hospitality and tourism programs accredited by both the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (CHRIE / ACPHA).
Our graduates find the emphasis on business education and experiential learning eases the transition from college into the workplace, and helps prepare them for the challenges they face as professionals in the hospitality and tourism industry. We have more than 200 students in the HTM program, all of whom are required to complete Pamplin's business core curriculum, including accounting, finance, marketing, management, business law, economics, and business information technology. They must also complete core HTM classes, which focus on hospitality operations, human resource management, hospitality finance and investment, and management policy and strategy. Specific hospitality operations courses include: food selection and preparation, food and beverage operations, lodging operations, and practical field studies.
These courses emphasize experiential learning. This "hands-on, minds-on" approach to teaching and learning helps students as they progress into increasingly real world settings. For example, our food and beverage operations and lodging operations courses bring students to the new Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center, a Hilton managed property. There students get valuable practical experience under the guidance of HTM department faculty and Hilton professionals. Additionally, many of our students complete their practical field studies course working at the Inn.
