The School of Hospitality, Sport and Tourism Management is a newly formed department at Troy located within the College of Health and Human Services. It offers a major in hospitality, sport and tourism management with students able to choose a concentration in the area of their choice.
Minors are available in the three areas plus one in recreation. The program is currently only available on the Troy campus and through eTroy.
Until now, sports management was housed in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, and hospitality and tourism management was available as a concentration in the School of Business.
However, Dr. Anthony Dixon, Interim Director of the school, believes the programs are a natural fit for each other.
“There are a lot of similarities—some synergies—that exist between hospitality, sport and tourism management,” Dixon said.
“So, we thought by removing both of those programs and forming our new school; one, it would make it easier for students coming on campus. They see, this is where sport management is, this where hospitality management is and then two, we could capitalize on these synergies between the three and provide students some core content on all three areas and then we break them down into concentration areas and provide the content for distinct differences in the concentration underneath those.”
He believes the programs have a lot to offer interested students. Troy’s sport management program is one of only eleven to be accredited by the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA.)
Dr. Dixon added that tourism is a growing economic sector in Alabama and internationally, with few schools offering a specific concentration in the area.
Regarding the transition to the new school, junior hospitality major Nyari Chanakira said, “In terms of bringing the school together, I think it’s been a very positive effect on me. Just the fact that I get to see other people that are majoring either in hospitality management, sports management or tourism or all three, and it’s just great to see how much this major has really grown here at Troy because I think the department is really great and they work really hard.”
“It’s really interesting to know that we’re a school of our own but I think we’re still in the initial stages. We don’t actually have our own building; we don’t have our own designated place. So that’s one thing that I think might just be a slight setback,” Chanakira said.
Dixon said the new school is open to questions from interested students. His office is located at 338-A Stadium Tower, and he can be reached by phone at 334-808-6424 or email at awdixon@troy.edu.
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