Welcome back to the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management!  While a lot has changed since many of you graduated, much remains the same.

The School is consistently recognized as a top program for hospitality education. In a listing of top 25 hospitality programs, based on student ratings related to academics, industry exposure, internship opportunities, and career placement, the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at NAU ranked number 7. [1] The School also was listed as number 12 on a 2017 rating of the top 30 hospitality programs in the United States. [2] We also rated number 12 in the world in CEOWorld Magazine’s 2017 rankings. The School holds the prestigious accreditation through the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA).

HRM began as a major in the College of Business Administration many years ago. In 1986, President Eugene Hughes established HRM as a separate school.  Since then the School has moved around the organizational structure at NAU from stand-alone School to part of the Consortium of Professional Schools and back to The W. A. Franke College of Business (FCB).  And while we are back in the FCB, we proudly retain our status as a separately accredited School.

With classes in Flagstaff, across the state, and online, the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management provides a student-focused path to a career in hospitality. Our state-of-the-art, LEED Silver-certified facility includes technology-enhanced classrooms; a demonstration kitchen; a dining room and beverage lab; comfortable breakout rooms and gathering spaces for students, and the Cult Coffee Roaster Learning Café, a student-run coffee shop and study lounge.

Currently, over 70% of our students graduate with an entry-level management job offer. Our recruiters are from leading hospitality organizations in the industry: Four Seasons, Aramark, Pappas Restaurants, Café Zupas, Darden Restaurants, Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and many others.

I know from my first semester in this role that many of our alumni are actively engaged in helping the School continue to thrive.  If you have not been to Flagstaff in a while, or have not connected to the faculty, staff, or students in some time, I invite you to do so!  We have a lot of exciting things going on that we would love to share with you.

– Eric D. Yordy, J.D
Interim Executive Director