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| As one of its first Collins School Endowed Chairs, Rutherford will perform a baseline study that provides an objective perspective on how The Collins School compares to other hospitality programs research efforts. |
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| Cathy Hsu will serve as an adviser to The Collins School of Hospitality Management faculty members throughout the year. |
After an intensive international search, The Collins School of Hospitality Management will welcome two new experts who will help the school push its research program to new heights. Bringing with them decades of experience in the hospitality industry as well as research, Cathy Hsu and Denny Rutherford will take different roles in expanding the schools research as its first Collins School Endowed Chairs.
Beginning in August, Hsu will serve as an adviser to faculty members throughout the year. Hsu made her first visit to campus earlier this month to meet with faculty and discuss individual and group projects in progress as well as help identify publishing opportunities. She will also interview some Collins School's Board of Advisors interested in working with The Collins School to identify applied research opportunities.
Rutherford will perform a baseline study that provides an objective perspective on how The Collins School compares to other hospitality programs research efforts and then explore how and what would be most valuable to the mission and goals of The Collins School. In his study Rutherford will conduct interviews to determine the research environment at Cal Poly Pomona, evaluate the potential for involving students, and assist faculty in evaluating possible collaborators for research from within the university and outside of the university.
“There are a number of Collins School faculty who are active in research and scholarship, but we believe its important to continue to strengthen our program,” says Bob Small, interim dean of The Collins School. “We feel privileged that both professors Hsu and Rutherford will join the university,” he adds. “They are leaders in the area of research and scholarship in the field of hospitality who will aggressively move our research and scholarly program forward.”
The Collins School Endowed Chair was funded by a generous donation by Jim and Carol Collins, long time university benefactors.
To read more about Hsu and Rutherford, click here.