A new Ph.D. degree program in Hospitality Management will be offered at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management beginning this fall, becoming the first such program in Florida and one of just a handful in the nation.
The new degree offered by the nation’s largest hospitality-management college will prepare students to teach, research and consult in the hospitality and tourism industry, and will replace the college’s previous doctoral track in Hospitality Education.
“This freestanding doctoral program strategically aligns with our purpose and objectives, and further solidifies UCF’s Rosen College as a leader in hospitality management education,” said Abraham Pizam, dean of UCF’s Rosen College.
The program will take an interdisciplinary approach to support research in hospitality and tourism. “The field of Hospitality Management is relatively new, and [Rosen College] is taking a unique leadership role in defining this emerging field at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,” according to the proposal to begin the program.
The 58-hour curriculum will include 16 credit hours of core courses, 27 credit hours of specialization courses and 15 credit hours of dissertation.
Paul Rompf, the college’s director of graduate studies, said the new curriculum will better align with other academic programs and have more variety in course selection. Students already enrolled in the Hospitality Education track have the option to continue with their existing curriculum or transfer into the new Hospitality Management program, he said. Students will no longer be able to enroll in the Hospitality Education track.
The University of Central Florida established its hospitality management program in 1983 within its College of Business. The program quickly experienced tremendous growth in enrollment, degrees and research to develop into one of UCF’s 12 colleges.
Orlando hotelier Harris Rosen donated more than $18 million in cash, land, and scholarships to UCF to create the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, which opened its own satellite campus in 2004. The college has more than 3,000 students in its undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs.
For more information about UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management and its degree programs, visit hospitality.ucf.edu.
About UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Located in the heart of the tourism and hospitality industry, Orlando, the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida is dedicated to the values of professionalism, leadership and service. The mission of UCF’s Rosen College is to develop future generations of global hospitality and tourism leaders representing all industry segments in the hospitality capital of the world, through innovative academic programs, cutting edge research and strong industry and community partnerships.