Hospitality Management

Opportunities for graduate studies

The hospitality management program offers a master of science degree with a major in hospitality management. Classes to earn the master of science are offered on campus or online.

The hospitality management program's mission is to educate students for management and leadership in the hospitality industry and to contribute to the profession through teaching excellence, research, consultation and service activities.

As the industry demand for graduates of hospitality management programs increases, the need for the highest quality of education in the field continues to grow. In the program, you will examine critical subjects that will challenge the industry deep into the 21st century. Challenges could include:

• changing demographics of the work force and consumers
• emphasis on technology and quality management
• legal requirements in lodging and restaurant management
• entrepreneurship and restaurant development from concept to operation
• impact of tourism on the global economy
• maximizing human resources and industry profits

To explore these and other hospitality industry challenges, the hospitality management program offers you comprehensive classes taught by knowledgeable and helpful faculty members. Recommended minors include marketing, recreation, business law, education and business computer information systems. Research studies, extensive readings and collaboration with industry professionals are essential to developing an in-depth understanding and strategies for problem solving. Faculty members and graduate students are actively involved in research such as hotel, restaurant, and bed and breakfast operations; legal and regulatory aspects; cost containment; eco-tourism; curriculum development; and consumer issues impacting the hospitality industry.

Proximity to hotel, restaurant and food service businesses and major corporate headquarters in the Dallas-Fort Worth region provides excellent affiliation and internship opportunities with top professionals in the hospitality industry. You will have an opportunity to complete internships with prestigious hospitality management companies such as Marriott International, Brinker International, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, ClubCorp, and ARAMARK.

A board of governors offers input on industry trends and serves as a network for you to investigate internship and career opportunities. Members of this board come from national and international hotel, restaurant, food service, and club companies; food distribution companies; and accounting and consulting companies.

With a master of science degree in hospitality management, you will be well suited for promising careers in lodging management, restaurant management, marketing and sales, country club and city club management, quick service food management, resort management, and travel and tourism management. In addition to developing management specialists, the program provides you training for academic careers in teaching hospitality management.

The hospitality management program features a unique and comprehensive laboratory environment that includes the well equipped, student-operated fine dining restaurant, the Club at Gateway Center. The hospitality management faculty is composed of leading professionals in the field who are well qualified with academic and industry experience.

Admission requirements

For admission into the master's program, you must meet the requirements of UNT's Toulouse School of Graduate Studies and a set of specific program requirements. For a list of graduate school requirements, access the graduate catalog online at www.unt.edu/catalog or visit the graduate school web site at www.gradschool.unt.edu.

The hospitality management master's degree program requires you to have the following:

• a bachelor's degree from an accredited university
• an overall undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 for the last 60 hours of course work or a 2.8 GPA on all undergraduate work
• acceptable scores on the GRE or GMAT (Contact the department or the gradate school for information concerning acceptable admission test scores. GRE or GMAT score must be less than 10 years old)
• a demonstrated proficiency in oral and written English
• a minimum of 24 hours of undergraduate work in hospitality management or the equivalent; 12 of the 24 hours must be advanced. If you do not meet the requirements, you must complete specified prerequisite courses in hospitality management before beginning the graduate program. No single prerequisite course may have a grade lower than B.

Degree requirements

You may select the thesis or non-thesis option. You must take a minimum of 36 semester hours with 24 hours in your major area, a statistics course (SMHM 5400, Research Applications in Merchandising and Hospitality Management; or EDER 5210, Educational Statistics), SMHM 5300 Research Methods in Merchandising and Hospitality Management, and have a minor with a minimum of 6 hours in a single area.

If you choose the non-thesis option, you must take a comprehensive examination. Those who choose the thesis option must take 6 hours of SMHM 5950 Master's Thesis.

Financial assistance

Scholarships are available to graduate students in hospitality management. You also may apply for financial awards from a wide range of national, state, local, university, and school sources. Graduate assistantships are available if you would like to work directly with faculty members on special projects. Applications for teaching and research assistantships are available in the Office of the Dean, School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management. For more information, you should contact the dean's office of the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management.

Half-time assistantships carry medical insurance benefits. Also, out-of-state and international students who receive half-time assistantships or many kinds of fellowships and scholarships are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates.

New hospitality management master's students are eligible for first-year fellowships paying $8,000. The department must nominate these students.

New graduate students who have participated in Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate programs are eligible for McNair fellowships that pay $12,667 over 16 months of graduate study. Contact the graduate school for information about McNair fellowships.

Computer technology

UNT has hardware and software for a wide range of instruction and research. Computer networks are installed in all academic departments, providing connections to a variety of general-purpose and specialized computing equipment.

The university offers you the ability to schedule classes, check accounts and pay tuition online. With the use of WebCT software, UNT electronically enhances curriculum in more than 500 classes through videoconference and the web.

The central resources for academic computing consist of several UNIX multiuser computers, including a cluster of systems that support high-performance computing.

You can use UNT's considerable computing resources through the wireless network on campus. Fourteen general-access student microcomputer laboratories provide PC and Macintosh formats as well as laser printing, and one lab is open 24 hours a day. Some labs are reserved for use exclusively by graduate students.

Library system

The UNT libraries contain printed books, periodicals, electronic databases, maps, documents, microforms, and audiovisual materials, as well as a large and growing number of electronic journals and books.

The Music Library is one of the top music research libraries in the country and contains tens of thousands of sound recordings and an extensive collection of musical scores, as well as books. The Science and Technology Library holdings emphasize biology, chemistry, computer science, library science and physics, and include an outstanding collection in mathematics. Catalogs for other major research libraries throughout the world can be searched electronically, and documents can be ordered through UNT's Interlibrary Loan department.

Through the Tex-Share program, administered by the Texas State Library, UNT has borrowing privileges with academic and public libraries throughout the state. UNT libraries also hold membership in the Center for Research Libraries, giving patrons access to unique materials no longer available in other libraries around the country.