The latest addition to NIU’s academics will be in one of the world’s oldest professions: hospitality.

While it may have existed for thousands of years, only recently did good hotel management require a university education. To meet the growing demand for trained, educated managers in hotels and other accommodations, NIU’s department of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences has decided to expand their program to include an emphasis on hospitality.

“We’re adding four new courses regarding lodging management,” said Lan Li, an associate professor specializing in hospitality administration in FCNS. “The emphasis will start this coming fall, but the new classes will be offered the following spring.”

Li said the program officially will be in full swing in spring 2002.

“I am teaching the lodging portion of the courses, and other faculty … will be teaching the service side,” Li said. “Introduction to Hospitality is a 200 level course, and it is open to basically anybody. That way, any students who want to can be aware of what the industry offers, in terms of career opportunities.”

Introduction to Hospitality will cover a wide range of topics, Li said. The course will delve into tourism, lodging and restaurant management and will give strategies for meeting planning. It also will go into the light side of hospitality, such as amusement park operation and cruises.

“We have a 300 level class called Lodging Operations,” Li said. “It is basically the front desk, housekeeping side of it. Another new class will be Hospitality Administration, a cost-control and quality management class.”

The last class, a 450 level course, will cover competitive methods and ways to sustain business. It will involve franchising, joint ventures, global partners and entrepreneurships.

“Right now, hospitality is an emphasis,” she said. “We are responding to a need the students have. There are a lot of community college students … who have been studying hospitality, then they come to Northern. And a lot of on-campus students have an interest, too. Maybe they have a part-time job there, in a hotel, or convention center, or in a restaurant.”

Li has a solid understanding of these students’ interests. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Zhong Shan University in Guangzhou, China, Li went to University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland to get her master’s in hotel administration. She then moved to America and got her Ph.D. in hospitality from Virginia Tech. She has held many jobs in hospitality over the years, from busing tables at a restaurant and waitressing, to management.

Li indicated that there was a great deal of industry support for the expanded program.

“There are a lot of jobs in Chicago and across the nation. [Hospitality] has become the number two employer right now. With the economy growing, a lot of people have started traveling, in this country and all over the world. People travel for business and leisure, and they all need hotels, restaurants, theme parks.”

Li said the industry wants people working management middle-level and upper-level, and the companies will want to keep them there.

“We can set up individual internships for students. The industry response has been overwhelming, they are very happy we are offering this major. Chicago is one of the largest convention cities in the world, and they get travelers who go there for the trade shows,” Li said. “There are so many hotel rooms waiting for someone to manage them. We are just responding to the need.”