PSHRS’s Impact Over the past decade, the Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society (PSHRS), the second-oldest affiliate program group at Penn State, has exhibited vision and zeal in its quest to create support in perpetuity for the School of Hospitality Management’s students. PSHRS’s first undertaking was to support and enrich the educational endeavors of students in the Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management program, especially student activities sponsored by the student chapter of PSHRS. In January 2003, the PSHRS Endowment Fund was created with gifts totalling $100,000. Only five years later, PSHRS created the largest endowment ever established by a Penn State affiliate program group: The PSHRS Endowment for Pre-Professional Leadership and Hospitality Experiences. The PSHRS raised $250,000 for this initiative, which
just became active this year. Its significance is not only in its size but in its purpose of providing the monies needed for students to participate in pre-professional leadership and hospitality industry experiences as well. Through this endowment, students are able to attend industry conventions and events, such as the National Restaurant Association’s annual show, which allow them to broaden their knowledge and perception of the industry and its career paths. “The students’ exposure to these real-world experiences with industry leaders is a valuable component of their education experience,” said Joseph McCann ’78 HR&IM, who served as the president of PSHRS from 2010 to 2011. “In addition, our students’ proud representation of Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management to these industry leaders brings the school additional relationship, recruiting, partnership, and development opportunities.”
Affiliate Program Group (APG) Update In February, PSHRS held its winter board meeting and strategy forum in conjunction with the Mentoring Kick-off Dinner. Twenty-five alumni mentors participated in this year’s program. To learn more about the college’s Mentoring Program and/or to become a mentor to a SHM undergraduate student, visit www.hhd.psu.edu/alumni/careers.html.
The student chapter of PSHRS held its annual Blue-White Weekend Pig Roast Tailgate on Saturday, April 20. Roughly 150 students, faculty members, and alumni were in attendance. Likewise, more than 50 alumni gathered for the annual Alumni Summer Weekend, featuring the School of Hospitality Management cookout and the Benefield Bash held July 12-14 at the Nittany Lion Inn.
Over 250 students, faculty members, and alumni attended the annual PSHRS Alumni Awards reception on October 9 at the Nittany Lion Inn. Debbie Ulrich ’77 FS HA, president and chief executive officer, Sysco Central Pennsylvania, received the Alumna of the Year Award. The three recipients of the Emerging Undergraduate Professional Award, Dant Hirsch ’03 HR&IM, hotel manager; St. Regis Bal Harbour (Starwood Hotels & Resorts); Alexandra Barton ’06 HR&IM, assistant general manager, Spiaggia (Levy Restaurants); and Katy Goldin ’09 HR&IM, general manager, Homewood Suites by Hilton (Vista Host, Inc.), and the recipient of the Emerging Graduate Professional Award, Amrik Singh ’04g HR&IM, associate professor, Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management, University of Denver, were honored. The Harvey P. Kamp Student Leadership Award was presented to Jasmyn Franklin (senior), national chair for the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality.
The School of Hospitality Management and PSHRS held the 8th annual “Alumni in the Classroom” program in October 2013. Seventy-one alumni returned to speak in the classroom and interact with students in roundtables and panel discussions. In addition, PSHRS hosted several networking receptions for alumni working in the hospitality industry throughout the country. Spring receptions were held in Orlando, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. Summer receptions where held in Baltimore, San Francisco, Dallas, New York, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. Please be sure to keep your contact information updated with the Penn State Alumni Association at alumni.psu.edu/about_us/ contact_us/update_info. Connect with PSHRS at www.pshrs. org and on Facebook at “Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society”. For more information about PSHRS, contact the president, Tom Riley ’91 at tom.riley@kimptongroup.com.
The College of Health and Human Development Alumni Society is seeking nominations for its alumni awards. For more information about the awards and to nominate deserving HRIM alumni, visit www.hhd.psu.edu/awards. The PSHRS career opportunities/alumni job board (www.hhd. psu.edu/alumni/apg/pshrs/JobPostings) receives an average of 200 management position postings each year. In addition, PSHRS collaborates with the School of Hospitality Management to publish a monthly e-newsletter. Past issues can be viewed at www.hhd.psu.edu/shm/news.
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