Courtesy of Julia Severance.
By Katlynn Mullins
USF St. Petersburg will launch the Hospitality Leadership Program in the spring.
The Bishop Center for Ethical Leadership has worked with hospitality industry leaders to develop an online curriculum and provide a way for non-students to gain knowledge in the hospitality field.
It’s meant to provide training for non-academic, non-degree seeking students who are aspiring to become — or already are — managers in the hospitality industry. This can include anything from hotels to salons and restaurants.
It trains for “situational leadership.” Every person that comes in is going to be different. Though there are things that would work across the board, Program Director Janet Keeler said, it’s not a one-size-fits-all.
“We’re very aware that some of the people that would benefit from this program might not have gone to college at all… They’re not going to be reading a lot of textbooks on the theory of hospitality,” Keeler said. “They’re going to be working with someone in the hospitality industry who understands how this works.”
Though the program is online, there will be opportunities to meet potential mentors and network throughout the 16 weeks.
“We’ll be leaning on some of the local hospitality leaders to help us with mentorship,” Keeler said.
When Keeler got involved, she wondered, “Why can’t they do their own training?” But she quickly came to realize that not every company’s culture is as tailored as Marriott or Disney World.
“When you’re dealing with The Vinoy (Renaissance Resort & Golf Club) or something that’s a Marriott property, they have huge corporate training programs,” Keeler said.
When it comes to small businesses, they’re trained on the logistics of their workplace. They may not know all the topics covered in “corporate training programs,” or the characteristics that make their company unique.
“Maybe they all know what their culture is there… but when you look at the broader scope of hospitality as a career, they wouldn’t be trained on that, and that’s where we came in,” Keeler said.
The Bishop Center partnered with over 20 business leaders to pull the curriculum together. Some of the businesses include Supercuts, the Vinoy Renaissance Resort and Golf Club, Tradewinds on St. Pete Beach and several restaurants.
The business leaders have been interviewed on film about their experiences, and the curriculum has been based around them. A lot of conversations were about their struggles and challenges with keeping employees, Keeler said.
Miguel Miranda, a restaurant consultant with 25 years of experience, and Otis Wilder, instructional designer for the College of Business, have been designing the curriculum.
There are 20 students in one cohort. Miranda and Wilder will work to connect students with business leaders to allow potential relationships to grow, Keeler said.
The program costs $5,000, according to Keeler.
Companies send managers or potential managers here as a starting point, according to the program’s website.
“It’s a different model for education,” Keeler said.
The relationships formed in the program are meant to carry on after completion, she said, so students keep a source of help behind them.
“I think these non-academic professional training programs are pretty common in big universities,” Keeler said. “It’s another way for us to offer things to the community.”
This is not the first time USF has created a program to help the community.
Other programs include human resource training, project management and even test preparation.“As a public university heavily engaged in the community,” said Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock, “helping develop the workforce is a high priority for us.”
