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News

Hilton alumni mingle, prepare for Homecoming events

by Cynthia Brum
The Daily Cougar

Faculty and alumni in the Conrad N. Hilton College Alumni Association met Thursday for an evening of food and drinks, which was held in conjunction with Homecoming.

The CHAA holds get-togethers every couple of months, Shannon Burnett, the association's director of alumni, said. 

For Homecoming, the CHACC will be a part of the tailgating festivities taking place before Saturday's 2:30 p.m. football game and is holding a Fall Recruiting Blitz for prospective high school and transfer students. 

"We'll host about 200 students from area high schools, along with their parents, for an open house, and then we'll all go over to our pavilion and have a tailgate (party)," Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management Dean John Bowen said.

After completing a bachelor's degree in marketing from Mississippi State, Jennifer Potts is now working on a graduate degree from the Hilton College. 

Potts said she was drawn to the program because of the Hilton College's national standing.

Emily Smith, president of the Hilton College Graduate Student Association, earned her bachelor's degree from Tulane in French and history.

Smith said she came to UH on a recommendation of a former marketing director for the Four Seasons Hotels who told her that the Hilton College had a great reputation.

Gregg Rockett spoke Thursday morning at the Eric Hilton Distinguished Lecture Series on the highlights of his career, which has taken him to places like Madrid and Miami.

Rockett, vice president of development for the Hilton Hotels Corporation in Latin America and the Caribbean region, graduated from the Hilton College in 1986.

Randy McCaslin received a graduate degree from the Hilton College in 1980 and today works as a hotel consultant for PKF Consulting. 

McCaslin said many students don't know what a hotel and restaurant management degree entails, and while part of it involves learning how to do proper table place-settings and conducting wine tastings, it is also a complex program that exposes the student to business and marketing strategies as well.

"It is a business degree, but in a specific industry," McCaslin said.

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