Summertime!

Although it's summer, quite a lot is going on in the Hospitality Administration program here at SFA. Dr. Wittenbach, Dr. Pfaffenberg and Ms. Runnels have been meeting with incoming hospitality majors during freshman and transfer orientation. We've got a great group of students coming in the fall.

Some students attended the Texas Restaurant Association's Southwest Food Expo in Houston last weekend. As usual, the event was a great success and everyone who attended had a good time.

Students of Dr. Pfaffenberg's summer section of HMS 305 and Dr. Wittenbach's HMS 202 class helped out with the annual Texas Blueberry Festival visitor survey on June 16. Although it rained just a little bit, the students did a fantastic job of collecting responses. This year we collected over 200 surveys - the most ever! Dr. Wittenbach and Mrs. Runnels will be analyzing data from our survey and sharing the results with the Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce and the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

In addition to teaching and doing research this summer, the HADM faculty are supervising internships and independent studies and working on curriculum changes. Stephanie Holt, HADM minor and graduating senior is participating in an independent study that is focusing on the programs of the Nacogdoches Agrilife Extension. Already Stephanie has assisted with a "Cooking with Herbs" class, and has gotten her hands dirty with the Jr. Chef' program. The program was featured on the front page of the Daily Sentinel this week.

Advisory Board Meeting/Alumni Dinner

It's that time again! We would like to convene a meeting of the HADM advisory board on Saturday, March 8 at 9:30 a.m. in the School of Human Sciences conference room. If you are a member of the advisory board, or would like to find out more information, please contact Dr. Wittenbach.

On Friday, March 7, we will be hosting the Alumni Dinner at Farechild's restaurant. Please RSVP to Dr. W by March 3.

Hope to see you there!

Five Myths of Tourism

We are so excited to host Paul Serff, President and CEO of the Texas Travel Industry Association here at SFA on Wednesday, February 26. Mr. Serff will be speaking to hospitality students and tourism professionals at 1 p.m. in the McKibben Education Building on campus. Following Paul's talk, the Hospitality Administration Society will host a meet and greet reception in the Dean's Conference Room.

All of our alumni, friends and partners are welcome to attend Paul's talk. I'm particularly exicted about it, because we've had several students win the TTIA scholarship in the past two years. This visit just strengthens our relationship with TTIA, which is the statewide association for travel and tourism organizations and corporations.