Dear friends,

The past year has brought about many exciting changes for the School of Hospitality Business Management (SHBM) that reflect the quality of our students, faculty, and staff. The stories in this edition of the Crimson Pineapple highlight a few of the great activities, program developments, faculty, students, and alums connected to SHBM.

This past year, we were able to facilitate additional international collaborations and experiences with visiting scholars, study abroad, and global faculty engagement. For example, Dipra Jha, assistant director of SHBM, instituted relationships in Dubai with a study abroad in 2022, an upcoming Executive MBA trip in the spring of 2023, and a unique spring break study abroad in 2023.

Our feature on Lind Olafsdottir, a recent graduate from César Ritz Colleges Switzerland, highlights the exemplary dual degree program that prepares our international students for successful careers around the world. And, Professor Dogan Gursoy was recently recognized in the top 1 percent of researchers in the world, based on citations by peers and research quality.

Our hospitality school’s global reach is seen in several examples including our feature story on Nancy Swanger, founder and director of the Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living. The United Nations recognized her as one of 50 leaders worldwide in senior living, an accomplishment tied to her work within the Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living.  In Murry Mercier’s feature, you’ll see one of the resources the institute provides during Hospitality Week is an annual, professional lecture on senior living. During this year’s Hospitality Week events, we will host a panel on “Technology for the Business of Aging” moderated by Steve Moran, a nationally known writer and speaker in the senior living industry.

As you browse this edition, you’ll learn about the professional success of WSU alumni including wine entrepreneur Andrew Harding (’05 MBA), founder of Nocking Point Wines, who is featured in Washington State Magazine, and Shaun McKinley (’10), COO of WithCo Cocktails, whose company is thriving in Nashville, Tennessee. Anthony Anton (’91 Poli. Sci.), president and CEO of Washington Hospitality Association (WHA), is featured in the Hall of Fame spotlight. Anton and the WHA partnered with us to create the Washington State Hospitality Conference, an event that raised over $66,000 to support hospitality programming and provided an opportunity for industry members, faculty, and students to learn and connect.

Another pivotal partnership I’d like to share is between the Port of Benton and WSU Tri-Cities. You can peruse this feature to learn about our joint plans for wine and culinary programming at the Walter Core Center in Prosser, Washington, that will not only educate people about the history of Washington state wine, but also provide sensory and hands-on experiences.

In addition to the progress highlighted in this issue, we’ve had several SHBM faculty recognized for their accomplishments. Jenni Sandstrom was the recipient of the first endowed chair on the WSU-Vancouver campus—the Tod & Maxine McClaskey Foundation Endowed Chair in Hospitality Business Management. Bamboo Chen’s research “Would You be More Satisfied with Your Life if You Travel More Frequently?” was the second most popular in WSU research news. Soobin Seo, as principal investigator, led a SHBM faculty team to secure a $500,000 commitment tied to a USDA grant to study virtual reality marketing experiences to increase brand awareness of Washington state wines. Byron Marlowe received the WSU Foundation’s Outstanding Service Award posthumously for his service to the WSU Foundation and university’s fundraising efforts. Our partners at Lake Tahoe Community College also created the Byron Marlowe Hospitality Scholarship.

For the new year, we look forward to expanding our experiential learning opportunities for our students, working with our new culinary team (LJ Klinkenberg and Jamie Ann Wilson-Spray) to enhance culinary career pathways, the opening of our new beverage tasting lab, and, of course, Hospitality Week.

Cheers! And Go Cougs!

Sincerely,

Bob Harrington, director