College responds to growing service industry

On January 1, the College of Applied Professions at the University of South Carolina became the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management. The new name reflects the major focus of the college - programs that are built around the burgeoning service industries in South Carolina.

The

The college is focused on the service industries - hotels, restaurants, retailing, sport and entertainment venues, and information management - the businesses that drive tourism in South Carolina, This college's name and its new direction make a bold statement about the university's intention of responding to one of the state's leading industries, tourism.

In 1996, for the first time and with very little fanfare, the service economy eclipsed manufacturing as the state's largest employer. For the past few years, manufacturing's employment statistics have remained fairly stable, while the service economy continues to record rapid gains. This new college focuses on the burgeoning service economy and its inherent industries.

The new arena planned for the Columbia Vista area will be an outstanding natural laboratory for the college's programs. Combined with a conference center, clubs, a proposed hotel and all the associated Vista venues and businesses, the arena offers excellent opportunities for student internships that are required of all USC students, as well as outstanding research opportunities for faculty members.

Because all USC students are required to complete an internship, the arena and Vista businesses provide the perfect complement for the programs. The state of South Carolina is the gem of the Eastern Seaboard where tourism is concerned, and USC intends to build a college with an array of comprehensive programs to serve this industry.

The college is focusing on technical innovation and is connecting to other programs across the campus and around the world. It intends to lead in distance education, including Internet-based courses. The college just received approval to offer its popular Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism program in Greenville via the University Center. Joining forces with Greenville Technical College, USC is responding to the growing tourism development in the area.

The college has already implemented a highly successful distance education program with the Beaufort-Hilton Head campuses, where more than 100 students are enrolled in the program. With successful international programs in Germany and Switzerland already underway, the college is now addressing a similar relationship with Canadian schools. At a recent international graduate conference, the school excelled in the number of papers presented by faculty and students for the third year in a row. "We are aiming for top 10," said Dr. Sandy Strick, department chair.

The college's Department of Retail Management was one of the first in the country to teach Internet Retailing, a course in which students design a complete ecommerce business plan and Web site. The Department of Retail Management is the largest freestanding department in the country and has relationships with all the major retailers who rate the program as one of their most-favored recruiting sites.

Fashion Merchandising is one of the fastest growing programs in the college with several students interning in Paris and New York. An international field study takes students to London, Paris and Rome. Don Gilbert, vice president of the National Retail Federation, was on campus recently to discuss a joint Master's Degree between the Department of Retail Management and the College of Engineering with faculty members from both colleges. Dr. Richard Clodfelter, department chair states, "Few people realize how lucrative management careers in the retailing field are and what a wide variety of opportunities exist."

Dr. Deborah Fowler just scored a major coup for the Retail Department. Intactix, a prominent retail software developer, announced an agreement to supply cuttingedge software to the department. This gift will enable the department faculty to elevate students' technology preparation to a new level.

The College's Center for Retailing and Institute for Tourism are excellent resources for the state's businesses and provide outstanding services for the City of Columbia. Faculty members conduct research projects that range from local projects for the River Alliance to national studies on pricing accuracy.

Often cited as number one in the country, the College's Sport Administration program attracts about half its students from out of state. "This program enrolls one of the highest numbers of University Scholars," according to Dr. Tom Regan, department chair, "and consistently maintains a long waiting list." The program focuses on the business of sports - finance, marketing, management, athletic compliance, etc. in addition to placing interns with major league sports teams, university athletic departments, and large facilities and sport and entertainment events such as the Heritage, the department works with NASCAR and Duke Motorsports, a Formula One Racing company. Students will intern in London this summer and will be working in marketing positions for Formula One companies.

A major new goal of the Sport Administration program is the implementation of a Master's Degree with initiual planning stagese already underway. Ultimately, the university plans to deliver this degree across the country to middle managers who want to move up in the sport business arena.

Underpinning this array of sunrise programs is another popular track, Information Management. Not only do Information Management faculty offer a highly successful degree, they support all the other programs. All students graduate with excellent computer skills. There is a move now to improve students' technology backgrounds by expanding database management and data mining requirements for all our students.

Majors in the program take courses in systems design, database management and networking. They study in state-of-the-art laboratories and complete projects in conjunction with local businesses. According to Ann Swafford, assistant department chair, "Our students get excellent jobs and are highly sought after." Like all programs in the college, this program enjoys 100 percent job placement.

The college's advisory board is chaired by prominent hotelier Bert Pooser, CEO of IMIC Hotels, and is comprised of CEOs and top-level executives from major corporations including Cathy Novinger, retired SCANA executive; Roy Pearce, CEO of Budweiser Distribution; Bob Greiner, president of Belk; Marvin Chernoff, chairman of Chernoff/Silver & Associates; Cindee Bailey of Climatic Corp.; and Buddy Jennings, director of South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

Other members of the Dean's Council include Walter Conti, retired restaurateur; Bill Dukes, CEO of Blue Marlin Restaurants; George Gregory with Burroughs & Chapin; Jim Hunter, president of Darlington Motor Speedway; Jimmy Richardson, vice chairman and CEO of Fresh Foods Inc.; H.P. Rama, chairman and CEO of JHM Enterprises Inc.; and Brantley Evans, CEO of Synergy Sports International. The board continues to add prominent members from the service sectors such as Johnny Unitas, NFL Hall of Famer whose son graduated from the Sport Administration program. In addition, Tony Taveras of Anaheim-based Disney Sports and Edna Morris of Orlando-based Red Lobster have recently joined the board.

The future of the college is very bright. Tourism is the No. 1 industry in South Carolina, and most of these programs drive this industry. Ultimately, the college will be the place where industries get cutting-edge information and research. Everywhere I go - from large hotel and restaurant chains, leading retailers, technology companies, major sport venues to the Governor's Conference on Tourism, people are excited about what this college is doing. Clearly, this is a college on the move.