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FROM MY LITTLE WOODEN DESK…

By: Dr. Bill Hendricks, Department Head

Cruisin’ California, the theme of our 2015 auction and dinner fundraiser on Feb. 28th at the Santa Margarita Ranch, resonates soundly with me – a fourth-generation Californian a lifetime of Golden State experiences. The memories flow easily as I write this newsletter introduction: a trip through the Redwoods; ballgames at Candlestick Park and Cal’s Memorial Stadium; horseback riding on Mount Diablo; skiing at Lake Tahoe; swimming at the local pool; high school grad night at Disneyland; Santa Cruz beaches; the California missions; camping at Lassen Volcanic National Park; the Red Bluff Roundup; a Day on the Green concert; backpacking in the Eastern Sierra; starting our honeymoon at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco; hiking on Mount Tamalpais; the Napa and Central Coast wine regions; shopping in Santa Barbara; walking across the Golden Gate Bridge; a swim in the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle; surfing in San Diego, and on and on. It takes literally thousands of employees to provide these California experiences for you and me. In essence, this is what our students learn about and what our alumni do every day. Our graduates manage your most memorable experiences.
 
The management of experiences is clearly evident in this edition of “The Report.” In part, our students and alumni learn about state-of-the-art experience management because we attract and hire the finest faculty and staff. Professor Kevin Lin, our latest hire, follows a long line of outstanding RPTA faculty, and he will undoubtedly help our program reach new heights. We are the envy of every department on campus with the appointment of Kathy Daniels as our new administrative support coordinator. Our students gain experiences rarely offered at other universities. One example is the completely student-run and planned RPTA auction and dinner fundraiser. Our students and alumni are able to land outstanding jobs and internships within the hospitality and tourism industry. Lindsey Paterson and Jamie Dehn are two such students you read  about in this newsletter. We continue to push the envelope in curriculum development as evidenced by Professor Marni Goldenberg’s upcoming class in New Zealand in fall 2015.

If you want to see experience management in person, register today for the RPTA auction and dinner. You won’t want to miss our students in action at one of the finest venues on the Central Coast. For updates on this event and other student and alumni activities, don’t forget to “like” RPTA on Facebook. The next time you have a memorable experience in California, remember it just might be an RPTA alumnus managing that experience.

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