Click here to view video of DePaul's announcement of the School of Hospitality Leadership.

DePaul University has received a $7.5 million gift – its second largest private donation ever – from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to establish the School of Hospitality Leadership, which will help address the hospitality industry’s growing need for highly-educated, diverse management.

Based at the university’s nationally recognized College of Commerce in downtown Chicago, the school will offer a bachelor’s degree in hospitality leadership beginning in fall 2009 to prepare students for management roles at hotels, restaurants, convention and tourism ventures, spas and related leisure industries. 

In addition to targeting traditional undergraduates, the innovative program will seek to enroll qualified Chicago hospitality workers who want to move into management but lack the educational credentials to do so.  The goal is to help these workers—many of whom are minorities and/or potential first generation college students—embark on management career paths through greater access to education.

Ongoing fundraising will support DePaul’s plans to add graduate degrees, continuing education programs and a research center at the school.

Hospitality industry executives on the school’s advisory board will join the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul president, and Ray Whittington, College of Commerce dean, in announcing the gift during a noon luncheon Sept. 24 at the Lodging Conference, the industry’s premier annual event for hotel CEOs, owners, developers and financiers, held this year at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Ariz.

“Chicago is the third largest convention destination in the United States and has been chosen as a candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympics.  It deserves a world class hospitality school to support this major industry,” said Holtschneider, who is a member of Chicago’s 2016 Olympics Committee.  “Thanks to this generous donation from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, DePaul can build a program that will educate leaders from diverse backgrounds for this industry.”     

Edmund J. Cain, vice president, grant programs, Hilton Foundation, said: “The Hilton Foundation is committed to creating more opportunities for people who are economically disadvantaged and helping them improve their lives. We are pleased to support DePaul University in launching this innovative hospitality leadership program in a sector known for creating employment opportunities for all, especially given the foundation’s legacy in this industry. The Hilton Foundation hopes that its challenge grant will motivate others, particularly those from the hotel and restaurant sector, to support this important endeavor.”

DePaul’s program addresses two critical issues facing the hospitality industry nationally: a growing shortage of qualified, skilled employees—which the International Society of Hospitality Consultants has identified as the industry’s most pressing issue—and a significant lack of diversity among hospitality managers. Only 7 percent of U.S. hospitality managers are African American and 6.5 percent are Hispanic.

The program also addresses an educational gap in Chicago.  Few local university degree programs focus on the management side of the hospitality industry, which employs 293,000 people and generates at least $15 billion in accommodation and food service sales in the Chicago-area.  DePaul’s undergraduate program will be the first bachelor’s degree offered in Chicago by a business school accredited by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business—International.

“One Chicago hotel executive told us he often has to turn to an out-of-state university to recruit management interns and new hires, and we’d like to change that,” said Commerce Dean Whittington. “We anticipate that our graduates will be highly prized because they will earn management degrees tailored to the hospitality industry from an accredited business school with high academic rankings.  Our program also is distinctive nationally because of our urban location in the midst of the Loop’s hotels, convention venues and restaurants.  This provides abundant opportunities for students to gain practical experience through internships.”

Whittington said he anticipates an initial enrollment of 50 students in the new bachelor’s degree  “With additional funding and student growth, we plan to expand the program to encompass a hospitality research center that will produce relevant studies of this industry, an MBA concentration in hospitality leadership, and continuing education initiatives” he said.

The donation is part of a string of million-dollar-level fundraising successes benefiting DePaul’s College of Commerce in recent years.   “This gift underscores the value that DePaul’s College of Commerce brings to Chicago and the region,” said Mary Finger, DePaul’s senior vice president of Advancement.  “The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s award supports both the university’s ability to deliver excellent academic programs and respond quickly to ever-changing business education needs. It also provides the initial resources for a new school of hospitality leadership. We will be continuing fundraising efforts in support of this important initiative.”                                                                   

DePaul’s management and entrepreneurship faculty is drawing on the expertise of an advisory board of prominent industry executives to design the curriculum for the new bachelor’s degree.  Members include Lodging Conference Chairman Morris E. Lasky, CEO of Lodging Unlimited, Inc., and Joe McInerney, president and CEO, American Hotel & Lodging Association, who chairs the advisory board.  Both will join Rev. Holtschneider in announcing plans for the school Sept. 24 at the Lodging Conference. Recruiting for the advisory board is ongoing. 

The advisory board to date also includes: George Ruff, senior principal, Trinity Hotel Investors, LLC; Sue Gin, chair, Flying Foods Group, Inc.; Paul McManus, CEO, Leading Hotels of the World; Arnold Karr, chief operating officer, Hotel Employers Labor Relations Association; Tom Loughlin, area vice president, North Central Region, and Nancy Lally, area director of human resources, Hilton Hotels, Chicago; James F. Sheerin, retired senior vice president, Hilton Hotels Corp.; Robb Webb, chief human resources officer, Global Hyatt Corp.; Jack Greenberg, retired CEO, McDonalds Corp.; Ernest Glidden, senior vice president of finance, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts; Lawrence Geller, president and CEO, Strategic Hotel Capital LLC; Arnold Weber, president emeritus, Northwestern University; and Gary D. Praetzel, dean, College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Niagara University.

“The advisory board looks forward to sharing our many years of experience with the management faculty to help create a program that is both academically excellent and career oriented,” said advisory board member Ruff, a DePaul trustee and 1974 graduate of the College of Commerce. 

About The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Based in Los Angeles, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation supports major, long-term projects that fund hotel and restaurant management education, safe water development, blindness services and prevention, housing for mentally ill homeless people, substance abuse prevention, global charity work by the Catholic Sisters and early childhood development initiatives.  The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation awarded DePaul’s School for New Learning a $480,000 grant in 2006 to establish a bachelor’s degree program for Sisters from Catholic religious congregations in Africa. The late Conrad N. Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels, served on DePaul’s Board of Lay Trustees from 1949 to 1967.

About DePaul’s College Of Commerce

Founded in 1913, DePaul’s College of Commerce offers highly respected, practical, flexible programs of career-focused business study.  The college encompasses the university’s undergraduate business program, with more than 4,500 students, and the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, which enrolls over 2,000.  The business school’s part-time MBA program is ranked No. 6 in the nation by U.S.News & World Report and its entrepreneurship undergraduate and graduate programs are ranked among the top 10 in the country by Entrepreneur magazine.

For more information about applying for the hospitality leadership degree program, contact Gianna Bellavia at gbellavi@depaul.edu or (312) 362-6786, or contact DePaul's Admission Office at (312) 362-8300.