Chaplin School receives grant to enhance career development office

Yanyn San Luis, career development coordinator, helps Kishma Fahie ’15, hospitality management student, with the development of her professional portfolio.

The Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management has received a grant from the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation that will provide critical funding to enhance current services of the school’s career development office. The $180,000 gift  will address the immediate need to prepare Chaplin School students pursuing careers in hospitality management to be competitive in the ever-changing global hospitality industry, empowering them to become tomorrow’s leaders and executive thinkers.

In the next two years, the grant will be used to implement and develop a mentor program, a peer advising program, a student advisory board, a student career portfolio development program, and a career services advisory board, while improving the tracking methods used to measure the success of these initiatives.

“We are very excited to be awarded this grant,” Shivani Joshi, director, career services and corporate relations, said. “The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation is a big supporter of the hospitality industry as a whole and of our program, in particular. This grant will provide our students access to industry and opportunities globally, while allowing us to assess the effectiveness of our programs adopting a cohesive data analytics strategy moving forward,” Joshi added.

The career services office at the Chaplin School is committed to developing the organizational, analytical and problem-solving skills of hospitality management students and alumni. These service additions ensure that FIU’s hospitality management students will receive a well-rounded academic education with a focus on professional skills in the areas of communication, language, leadership and cultural awareness.