Chancellor unveils idea for partnership between college, hotel

Jamil Oakford/editor-in-chief

The Board of Trustees discussed Feb. 19 the possibility of starting a partnership between a local hotel and a culinary arts and hospitality program.

So far, this plan is in its early stages. Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley said the college would first need to initiate the process to solicit the partnership.

This program would be separate from the culinary arts program already in place.

“We are not moving the culinary arts program from SE Campus,” Hadley said.

When a hotel partner is found, students in the hospitality or culinary arts portion of this program would have the chance to receive hands-on experience in working with a hotel. Internships will also be tied to this opportunity.

The Innovation Forum has reviewed the NE Campus Center of Excellence for Visual, Technical and Performing Arts and found that the facility could mean more classes with more students.

It reported that adding music courses would increase student enrollment. Those courses would include entertainment managing, sound engineer and a theater electrical/lighting program.

The next steps on this project are meeting with professional services to get an updated idea of the costs. Hadley warned this could take four to six months.

The TR Campus sign language program gave a presentation about the success of students learning to become interpreters.

Program coordinator Sammie Shepherd, who made the presentation, explained the growing need for interpreters in hopes that the board could help them continue their work.

Vice chancellor of communications and external affairs Reginald Gates gave a brief presentation about a recent student trip to Austin for Community College Day. Students met state representatives and Gov. Greg Abbott at the Capitol.