The Department of Hospitality Management prides itself in offering lasting experiences for their students. This helps individuals prepare for the “real world” work environment while providing students an enjoyable college experience. Students have opportunities to participate in numerous student organizations, work in professional settings through required internships, and gain culinary and management skills in the various lab classes, just to name a few.

Student Organizations
Currently the Department of Hospitality Management is affiliated with 3 discipline specific student organizations: Hospitality Management Association, National Society of Minorities in Hospitality, and Pirate Planners. Other College and University-wide organizations are also available for student participation. These organizations provide an environment for social networking, interacting with industry professionals, attendance of conferences and conventions, and other events. One event in recent past that was put on by National Society of Minorities in Hospitality was the ECU Iron Chef, where faculty and students competed in a judge cooking competition. We encourage all students to take advantage of at least one of these organizations.

Field Experience
Students in our undergraduate degree programs are required to participate in an externship after their sophomore year and an internship prior to their senior year. The externships are typically a brief interaction with industry professionals. The purposes of these are to expose newly admitted Hospitality Management students to potential professions and job fields. The internships are much more extensive and involved. Many internships are done throughout the state and across the United States. Department and individual faculty have garnered relationships with industry professionals that allow us to place students in some of the top environments throughout the country. The internship location is typically agreed upon between the student and their internship instructor.

• Hospitality Management Student Interns with Philadelphia Eagles Football Team

Lab Settings
Another major element of the Hospitality Management programs are the labs that students participate in. Depending upon the particular program students may take up to 2 basic foods lab and 2 advanced food production and service management labs. The basic food labs take place in our state of the art culinary center. The advanced labs are more involved with groups of students creating a menu and managing food preparation and service to customers in the Darden/Red Lobster dining room. The customers consist of ECU faculty, staff, students, and citizens of the Greenville community.

Please feel free to contact us at:
HMGT@ecu.edu or 252-737-1603.