In the News
- Columbia Chinese community joins forces to establish coronavirus relief effort: WLTX (feat. Lin Wang)
- For sports fans, coronavirus cancellations are unprecedented and deflating: Washington Post (feat. Nick Watanabe)
- A typically noisy sports month is silenced by coronavirus cancellations: Washington Post (feat. Nick Watanabe)
- Columbia restaurants and food businesses grapple with changing impacts of COVID-19: Post & Courier/Free Times (feat. Rich Harrill)
- Despite coronavirus pandemic, Daytona Bike Week rolls on: Daytona Beach NewsJournal (feat. Scott Smith)
- Afternoon Headlines, March 17: SC Public Radio (feat. Nick Watanabe)
- COVID-19 is wiping out Columbia’s spring event calendar — how bad will it hurt?: Post & Courier/Free Times (feat. Tom Regan)
- How the coronavirus pandemic is devastating the tourism industry: ZME Science (feat. Simon Hudson)
- COVID-19 impact: Sports and entertainment: UofSC central website (feat. Tom Regan and Nick Watanabe)
- COVID-19 impact: Travel and tourism: UofSC central website (feat. Simon Hudson)
- Deborah Brosdahl was also recently featured as an expert in several media interviews.
Faculty/Staff Notes
- Congratulations to Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management faculty member Cathy Gustafson who just received a Garnet Apple Award for teaching innovation. She is the third HRSM faculty in a row recognized in this annual university award.
- Congratulations to Sport and Entertainment Management faculty member Grace Yan on being named a Research Fellow for the North American Society for Sport Management.
- After serving as an ad hoc reviewer for 7 years, Kevin So has been invited to join the editorial board for one of the three leading tourism journals, Tourism Management.
- Four students from the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management competed in the 2020 Team USA Olympic Symposium Case Competition in Colorado Springs, Colorado during spring break this year. Brian Mihalik served as a faculty advisor for the students on the trip, and he and Linda Mihalik made a multi-year donation to help support the experiential learning opportunity for students.
- Congratulations to the following Ph.D. students who recently defended their dissertations: Fei Gao and Su Jara-Pazmino for sport and entertainment management; and Jing Li and Chuhan (Renee) Thomsen for hospitality, restaurant and tourism management. Congratulations also to Yvette Sands, sport and entertainment management adjunct, on her recent dissertation defense.
- Led by Brittany Sims, the HRSM Pancake Breakfast raised more than $600 for the American Heart Association.
- Faculty, staff and students participated in the Dean’s Leadership Luncheon at McCutchen House as part of University of South Carolina Leadership Week.
- Mark Nagel co-authored the chapter “Sporting Goods and Sport Licensing” in the newly published textbook, Governance in Sport.
- Sandy Strick’s advanced wine class, with 22 students and 11 industry professionals, achieved 100 percent passing scores on the introductory master sommelier exam.
- Stephen Shapiro’s research on fantasy sport and sport gambling was featured in the Winter 2020 issue of Breakthrough Magazine
Alumni Notes
Accomplishments/Awards
- Congratulations to two HRSM alumni who have been honored on The State’s 20 under 40 list: David Erbacher, ‘10, B.S. Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management; Jared Evans, '12, B.S. Sport and Entertainment Management
Job Changes/Updates
2018
- Kara Komondor (B.S. Sport and Entertainment Management) started a new position with Georgetown University as the associate director of engagement and events.
2016
- Beaty Fisher, C. S. (B.S. Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management) started a new position with Augusta National Golf Club as a sommelier.
- Brittany Martin (B.S. Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management) started a new position with the Georgia World Congress Center as an event manager.
- Krystal Slade (B.S. Fashion Merchandising) started a new position with Charlotte Russe as a store manager.
- Kerry Brundage (B.S. Hospitality Management) started a new position as online account executive at Zoom Video Communications
2014
- Sam Chisholm (B.S. Retail Management) was promoted to human resources generalist with Foodbuy USA.
- Alysa DeLuca (B.S. Retail Management) started a new position with Lowe’s Companies, Inc. as an online associate merchant.
- Jackie O’Conner (B.S. Sport and Entertainment Management) started a new position with Bank of America as the vice president of relations and management.
- Jason Zipperian (B.S. Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management) started in a new position with Lyft as an optimization specialist.
2013
- Lindsey Culley, SCCED (B.S. Tourism Management) started a new position with Mashburn Construction as the director of marketing and communications.
- Remmi Ott (B.S. Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management) started a new position with Amazon as a stylist.
2012
- Paige Kenmore (B.S. Sport and Entertainment Management) started a new
position with The Madison Square Garden Company as a senior production manager.
2008
- Jason Pruitt (B.S. Retail Management) was promoted to senior regional launch manager at Amazon.
2006
- Todd Green (M.S. Sport and Entertainment Management) started a new position with the Carolina Panthers as the director of football video operations.
2001
- Robbie Liles (B.S. Sport and Entertainment Management; M.S. International Hospitality Management, 2004) started his own business, REL Consulting, LLC.
1999
- Tom Webb (B.S. Integrated Information Management) started in a new position with the University of South Carolina as a cyber threat analysis cell (CTCA) architect.