When students in NIU’s new Hospitality and Tourism Management program want to know about working in the world’s largest city, in a country projected to soon be the largest tourism destination in the world, they need look no further than their professor, Nicholas Hryhorczuk.
The assistant professor in Hospitality and Tourism Management spent his summer teaching a course, Tourism Planning and Development, for the Shanghai Business School in China. Hryhorczuk is beginning his fourth year teaching at NIU. While studying for his Ph.D. degree at the University of Illinois, he did his dissertation on the future development of Chernobyl. He also previously worked for an investment firm, where his focus was on emerging markets in Eastern Europe. He was invited to teach for the summer at the Shanghai Business School after representatives from there visited NIU about a year ago.
In Shanghai, Hryhorczuk’s class drew more than 100 students. He also gave two lectures on campus, “The Future of Revenue Management and How Millennials are Re-Shaping the Hospitality Industry” and “Cross-Cultural Management and China’s Embrace of Globalization.”
“China is projected to be the top tourism destination by 2020, and Shangai is the largest city in the world, so this perspective and experience has enriched my teaching here,” he said. “I would say that typically I bring an interdisciplinary approach to all of my courses, but after spending the time in China and seeing the robustness of their industry and how many students they have, I began to insert a more global perspective into my classes here.”
The Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management at NIU prepares students for careers in the global industry through up-to-date knowledge of hotel operations, food service, meeting and event management, as well as the skills needed to work in the industry’s complex business environment.
Hryhorczuk said all professors in the NIU program have international experience and are focused on the growth of the industry globally.
“There’s tremendous room for growth, particularly for millennials,” he said. “So all of this is of great interest to our students, and to their ultimate benefit.”
