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+ Career Management in the Office of Student Services

As early as your freshman year, the advisors in the OSS will be helping you plan your career and your individual job search strategies. Career Management services and resources include on-campus recruiting, the annual Career Day, the Management Intern Program, and Practice Credit (the required work experience). Job search resources include CornellTRAK, permanent and summer employment listings, company literature, and the alumni directory. Career program sessions on career-related topics are held throughout the academic year and include self-assessment, résumé and cover-letter preparation, networking, interviewing, and assessing job offers.

More information about Career Management is available on the web, or stop by the office at 180 Statler Hall, 255-6376.

Additional resources for careers outside of hospitality can be found at Cornell Career Services, 103 Barnes Hall, 255-5221; or e-mail.

+ Center for Learning and Teaching

The Center for Learning and Teaching provides reading and study skills assistance and tutorial assistance. It is located in 420 Computing and Communications Center (CCC), 255-6310.

+ Classroom Etiquette and Behavior

The Hotel School has high expectations concerning your behavior in class. You have responsibilities to yourself (and to those who may help support you financially through college), your classmates, your instructors, and any classroom visitors, such as guest lecturers, alumni, and prospective students.

As a general guideline, all of your in-class actions and behaviors should enhance learning—both yours and those of your classmates. In turn, anything that you do that detracts or distracts from learning is likely to be problematic.

Because classrooms are the key venues where your instructors and your classmates will stimulate your academic learning, all parties share responsibility for maintaining appropriate decorum and contributing to learning in class.

What can you expect from your instructors?

You can expect that your instructors will conduct themselves responsibly and with integrity, so that they provide you with meaningful learning opportunities. Classroom activities should introduce new information, help you to explore and apply that information, and reinforce information covered in your course readings and/or other class sessions.

Your instructors will hold class for all scheduled sessions, prepare thoughtful lesson plans, design appropriate assignments, and explain assignment instructions clearly. During class, they will lecture, host guest speakers, and–depending on class size–lead class discussion and provide additional opportunities for you and your classmates to share your insights.

Outside of class, you can expect that your instructors will evaluate your work fairly, return your assignments swiftly, hold office hours, and, as necessary, sponsor review sessions to help your prepare for your exams.

What will your instructors and classmates expect from you?

Within each class, your instructors and fellow students will expect you to be intellectually engaged and curious: willing to take risks by applying new ideas and sharing your insights with your classmates. As you intellectually engage the course material, we will expect you to demonstrate professionalism, integrity, and courtesy–three elements over which you have complete individual responsibility and control–so that you capture all learning opportunities and contribute meaningfully to your classmates’ learning.

The value that you capture and contribute during each class will depend, in no small part, on how well you prepare yourself for class, conduct yourself during class, and follow up after class.

Preparing for class.

You have full responsibility for how well you prepare for class. You should complete all homework conscientiously: readings, problem sets, team projects, and writing assignments. Additionally, you should come prepared with questions and insights to share with your classmates and instructor.

If you miss a class, you should prepare yourself for the next class. To find out what material you missed and what your assignments are, consult your course syllabus and contact a classmate or teaching assistant (TA). Make sure that you get the notes from the class you missed, and be sure to complete all readings and other assignments. (Some instructors may be available to meet with you in tutorial.) Once you return to class, your instructor will expect you to be prepared to participate meaningfully in the class discussion and to have completed to the best of your ability any assignment due.

Applying yourself in class.

You also have full responsibility for applying yourself in class, so that you capture the most learning available and contribute to your classmates’ learning. You can be confident, however, that the amount you learn, the value you deliver to your classmates, and the final grade that you earn will suffer should you fail to manage your attendance, punctuality, timely submissions, and participation:

Attendance.
Attend all class sessions, unless an extraordinary event prevents you. You will find no substitute for class sessions.

Punctuality.

Come to class on time. When class is scheduled to begin, you should be ready to begin participating and learning, rather than walking in the door, finding your seat, removing your coat, or opening your books. Latecomers, even if they enter quietly, disrupt the class and implicitly demonstrate discourtesy toward those who arrive on time.

Submission of assignments.

Be prepared to submit your assignments at the beginning of class on the day that each assignment is due. If you regularly prepare and submit your assignments on time, you will likely find four valuable outcomes:

  • Your workload will remain reasonable.
  • Your knowledge and skills will develop incrementally.
  • You will be pleased with your growth and with the progress of the course.
  • You will reinforce habits of punctuality and skill in project management that will serve you well in the professional world.

If, in turn, you submit assignments late, you likely will find two consequences: first, you will lose points from your grades. More importantly, your learning will suffer, because you may not be prepared for subsequent assignments that build on the foundation skills and knowledge from earlier assignments.

Participation.

Participate meaningfully: be alert, active, and inquisitive. Students and instructors agree that nothing is worse than a silent and passive class, and nothing is better than an active, inquisitive, and enthusiastic one. Share your observations: initiate discussions concerning course readings, raise questions, and respond to your classmates' ideas.

By sharing your insights, questions, and tentative observations concerning key concepts that you test against your experience, you share responsibility for learning and you push thinking—your own and those of your classmates and instructors.

Following up after class.

Following up also requires that you conduct yourself responsibly. You need to find the right balance in your life between academics and nonacademic activities, so that you complete any homework that Because you have full responsibility for how well you perform, you will reap the benefits of responsible behavior or suffer the consequences that accrue to irresponsible behavior.

The more conscientiously you accept your responsibility as you prepare for class, apply yourself in class, and follow up after class, the more you will learn, the more you will contribute to your classmates’ learning, the higher your grades will likely be, and the more effectively you will develop and reinforce behavior that will serve you especially well in the professional world.

We hope that you will value your class sessions and take best advantage of these learning opportunities.

+ Club Managers Association of America (CMAA)

The Cornell Chapter of CMAA promotes closer ties between CMAA and students of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, promotes and advances friendly relations between its members and professional club managers, encourages the education and advancement of its members in the field of club management, and promotes the field of club management within the Hotel School.

+ Concentrations

Students may select an optional 12-credit concentration. In order to declare a concentration and have it appear on your transcript, courses must be taken for a letter grade (unless they are only offered as S/U), and a 3.0 minimum cumulative GPA in the concentration courses must be attained. The deadline to declare a concentration is the last day of the student’s penultimate semester.

Forms are available online. 

Note:  The 12 concentration credits are often taken within the Hotel School, which naturally fulfills the degree requirement for 12 credits of upper-level Hotel Electives.  Some concentrations may offer the option or require that the student take courses outside the Hotel School.  If courses outside the Hotel School are used to fulfill any or all of the concentration credit requirement, the student must still fulfill the degree requirement of 12 credits of upper-level Hotel School electives.

For more information, see the listing of approved concentrations, talk to an advisor in the Office of Student Services, or contact the faculty representative in your concentration area.

+ Cornell Dinner Club

The Cornell Dinner Club seeks to expand students’ knowledge of the food and beverage industry through activities that stimulate learning in a social atmosphere.

+ Cornell Hotel Society, Collegiate Chapter (CHS,CC)

CHS,CC is dedicated to supporting Hotel School students and their special interests through the promotion of the student organizations and alumni affairs. The chapter holds biweekly meetings of student organization leaders, creates school-wide community service events, leads regional representation of alumni chapters, and is responsible for the distribution of student organization budget funds.

+ Cornell University Spa Association (CUSPA)

CUSPA is dedicated to the study and pursuit of careers in the spa industry.

+ CoursEnroll

The feature on Just the Facts that students use to enroll for the next term’s classes is known as CoursEnroll. Students pre-enroll for the following semester by submitting course requests during a specified time period in the middle of the current semester. Students are notified of course enrollment dates through e-mail, by posters, and by notices in the Cornell Daily Sun.

Course enrollment materials also are available in the Office of Student Services, 180 Statler Hall, in mid-October and late March.

Before or during course enrollment, students should discuss their program plans with a faculty advisor. For their advising sessions, students need the Course and Time Roster , issued by the university registrar.

Students must complete their pre-enrollment on Just the Facts by the deadline announced by the university registrar or face having to add and drop courses at the beginning of the following semester when many courses already will have been filled.

Note: Freshmen and first-semester sophomores are pre-enrolled in their core courses by the Office of Student Services.

+ Course Load

A student must take at least 12 credits each semester, and the typical course load per term is 15-18 credits per semester. Physical Education does not count toward full-time enrollment or toward total hours needed for graduation. If your cumulative GPA is below 2.50, you may not enroll in more than 18 credits per semester. With the written approval of your advisor, you may take more than 18 credits if your GPA falls within the following ranges:

2.50-2.99; may take 19 credits
3.00-3.49; may take 20 credits
3.50 and above; may take 21 credits

+ Course Numbering System

The first digit of the Hotel School course number is intended to be indicative, in most cases, of the level at which the course would normally be taken, i.e.,
1-Freshman/Introduction
2-Sophomore
3-Junior
4-Senior
5-Provisional Course Offerings
6-Graduate Electives
7-Courses required for the MMH degree
8-MS
9-Ph.D.
This, however, is by no means ironclad: upper-class students will be found in 100- and 200-level courses, and undergraduates may be enrolled in 600-level offerings. The determining factor is the prerequisites/limitations statement for the course in question.

The second digit of the SHA course number designates the academic area within the school:
0-Operations
1-Management, Organizational Behavior, and Human
Resource Management
2-Finance, Accounting, and Real Estate Development
3-Food and Beverage Management
4-Marketing, Tourism, and Strategy
5Facilities Management, Planning and Design
6-Managerial Communication
7-Information Systems
8-Law

The third digit of the SHA course number indicates a specific course within the area of instruction.

+ Course Time Conflicts

Since instructors have the right to expect that the students registered for their courses will attend the entire class period, enrollment in courses with overlapping times will not be permitted.

+ Courses of Study

The university course catalog, Courses of Study, is distributed each year at the beginning of the fall semester. Additional copies of Courses of Study are available in the Office of Student Services, 180 Statler Hall.

+ Credit

Credit is the value that you earn by successfully completing a class. Credit is measured in credit hours.

+ Curriculum Requirements

Note: You can use the Online Degree Audit to track your progress toward the degree.

Core Courses
Operations
H ADM 105 (2)-Introduction to Hotel Operations
H ADM 106 (2)-Introduction to Food Service Operations
H ADM 201 (3)-Hospitality Quantitative Analysis
H ADM 301 (3)-Service Operations Management
H ADM 305 (4)-Restaurant Management
Management and Organizational Behavior; HR Management
H ADM 115 (3)-Organizational Behavior and Interpersonal Skills
H ADM 211 (3)-Human Resource Management
Finance/Accounting; Real Estate Development
H ADM 121 (3)-Financial Accounting
H ADM 221 (3)-Managerial Accounting
H ADM 222 (3)-Finance
H ADM 321 (3)-Hospitality Financial Management
Food and Beverage Management
H ADM 236 (4)-Culinary Theory and Practice
Marketing, Tourism, and Strategy
H ADM 141 (3)-Microeconomics for the Service Industry
H ADM 243 (3)-Marketing Management for Services
H ADM 441 (3)-Strategic Management
Facilities Management, Planning and Design
H ADM 255 (3)-Hospitality Development and Planning
H ADM 355 (3)-Hospitality Facilities Operations
Managerial Communication
H ADM 165 (3)-Managerial Communication I
H ADM 365 (3)-Managerial Communication II
(3)-First Year Writing Seminar
Information Systems
H ADM 174 (3)-Microcomputing
H ADM 275 (3)-Introduction to Information Systems Management
Law
H ADM 387 (3)-Business and Hospitality Law

Total Core:                     69
Hotel Electives:             12
Distributive Electives:   18
Free Electives:               21
Total Program:             120

Notes:
Physical education does not count toward your total credit hours earned for graduation.

All core courses must be taken for letter grade. Hotel Electives also must be taken for letter grade unless only offered on an S/U basis (such as H ADM 430).