Business, Government Legal News from throughout WVW.Va.'s tourism industry to get more attention at WVU

The tourism and hospitality industry in West Virginia has become the state's second largest industry. And West Virginia University is working to make sure that industry has enough skilled and trained managers.

WVU's College of Business and Economics recently announced it upgraded its Hospitality and Tourism Management program to an "area of emphasis."

According to a news release from the college, the new designation came about after the development of four core courses in the Department of Management and Industrial Relations. The business school has now set its sights on making Hospitality & Tourism Management an academic major in the future.

"The Hospitality & Tourism Management program has been upgraded to an area of emphasis, which is a great next step in the overall development of the program," Dr. Karen France, B&E associate dean of Academic Affairs, said in the news release. "We started this program by offering individual courses as we could make them available. Now, we have a quality core of four courses, and we believe we are well on our way to the development of an official major in this area of study."

The four core courses for the program include Hospitality & Tourism Leadership, Hotel Operations, Tourism Management and Restaurant Operations Management. Teaching Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator Frank DeMarco said there is demand for the curriculum, and that West Virginia's tourism and hospitality industry will benefit as a result.

"There has been a solid demand for courses in the program, and we really believe this will only strengthen the tourism and hospitality industry in West Virginia, across the country and anywhere our graduates land internationally," DeMarco said in the news release. "We have two fantastic learning labs in Taziki's Mediterranean Café at the Mountainlair on campus and the Waterfront Place Hotel to give our students practical experience. Couple that with the academic component, and students have a great program from which to learn."

He said the hospitality and tourism industry has qualified individuals to fill positions in day-to-day operations, but industry employers must many times look outside West Virginia to fill management positions. This program, he said, would help change that.

"We have received very positive feedback from the West Virginia Division of Tourism and the West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association about this program. I think these industry organizations realize that this program can help fill the gap of a lack of qualified individuals for management positions in the hospitality and tourism industry," said DeMarco.

Dr. Jose Sartarelli, Milan Puskar Dean of the College of Business and Economics, said the decision to further develop the program is a reflection of work force demands within the state.

"The hospitality and tourism industry is West Virginia's second-largest industry," Sartarelli said in the news release. "If we can help produce outstanding management candidates for this industry and establish a reputation for being able to provide quality management candidates, we have met our commitment as a land grant institution and helped our students get placed in great jobs. This would be outstanding, all the way around."

For  information on the WVU Hospitality & Tourism Management program in the WVU College of Business and Economics, go to http://be.wvu.edu/management/hosp_tourism.htm.