Tomorrow’s Hospitality Leaders Are Learning At NYU’s Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality

Students gain first hand experience in the Tisch Center’s Hospitality Innovation Hub Experiential Learning Lab (HI Hub Lab)

(Students learning in the Hospitality Innovation Hub Experiential Learning Lab (HI Hub Lab) at NYU’s Tisch Center of Hospitality)

Location: Manhattan, NY

Perfect For: Students and career-changers alike looking for an extensive and evolving hospitality curriculum

Between Union Square and Washington Square in Manhattan is the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, NYU’s division for the studies of travel and tourism, worldwide hospitality, and event management. Opened in 1995, The Tisch Center of Hospitality is part of the university’s School of Professional Studies. The division offers a number of degrees, including the Bachelor of Science in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Management, as well as Master's in Event Management, Travel and Tourism Management, and Global Hospitality Management. Additionally, the Tisch Center of Hospitality delivers learning pathways for Executive Education for Industry Leaders, Hospitality and Tourism, Restaurant Management, and Meeting, Conference, and Event Management.

“I think one of the things that is really unique to hospitality is that it builds a lot of transferable skills. No matter what business you're at, you kind of have to build your relationship management skills. You have to build your sales skills. You have to build your sort of like analytics skills, or just generally kind of project management. Being very organized or understanding how to work in teams. So that all is present at any level of hospitality careers.” - Dr. Vanja Bogicevic

It’s a division of NYU’s SPS that Dr. Vanja Bogicevic, Clinical Associate Professor of Hospitality Marketing at the Tisch Center, holds in high regard, due in no small part to the program’s diverse student population.

“So the Tisch Center of Hospitality is what I would call really a premier hospitality institution with more than 25 years of…history of educating the future hospitality leaders,” Dr. Bogicevic tells A HOTEL PODCAST. “One thing that…we're particularly proud of is that we are very globally oriented. We have students both from the United States that are domestic students, but also students from all over the world with, I think, a large population of our students coming from Asia, from China, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, like Thailand, Indonesia. We have students from again, like India, we have students from the Middle East, we have students from Latin America, students from Europe. And that kind of mix of cultures is really valuable in the classroom when you're listening to students’ experiences and hearing their stories and seeing why they're passionate about the industry because of these global opportunities.”

(Dr. Vanja Bogicevic)

An accomplished academic, Dr. Bogicevic’s background includes a Ph.D. in Consumer Sciences from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in Hospitality Administration Management from the College of Hospitality & Tourism Leadership, University of South Florida, and an M.Arch. and a B.Arch. in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Prior to her current role at the Tisch Center, Dr. Bogicevic was a Visiting Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, where she developed a VR lab and designed the first Healthcare Environmental and Hospitality Services certificate program. Her areas of research include service technologies, VR marketing, and design’s role on tourism and hospitality consumers.

At the Tisch Center, Dr. Bogicevic teaches Research Methods, Brand Management, and Hospitality Marketing and Sales classes. She also heads up the Hospitality Innovation Hub Experiential Learning Lab (HI Hub Lab), an academic facility that provides students with opportunities to connect with thought leaders from the hospitality industry. The Clinical Associate Professor shares that the entrepreneurial and experiential center ensures students “have an understanding of what the challenges are and what the needs are of different hospitality businesses.”

The HI Hub Lab also offers students access to resources like its Incubator and Experiential Learning Lab. Run by fellow Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Recep “Richie” Karaburun, Dr. Bogicevic details the Incubator as “an accelerator program for student startups that have the minimum viable products. So the incubator program has a community of mentors and investors that support student entrepreneurship and their startup companies. So our community of mentors has individuals from venture capital, from product development, from the technology world, from sales and marketing, finance, et cetera. And they engage with cohorts of students that are selected to participate in the incubator every year through a series of events, speaker series, or one-on-one mentorship opportunities.”

“All our degrees have been revised in the last five or six years. So the program is still very, very fresh. And we tend to do a good job of allowing also special topics courses where we can cover some of the interesting trends.” - Dr. Vanja Bogicevic

The Experiential Learning Lab, meanwhile, is described by Dr. Bogicevic as bringing “the latest hospitality and travel technology in the classroom to support faculty who want to incorporate that technology in their curriculum.” The Lab provides “students opportunities to complete practical assignments using real world hospitality travel software,” she continues, with the goal of providing tools and experience “that helps students improve their job readiness and competitiveness in the market.” As the Tisch Center curriculum covers a wide range of hospitality-connected industries, the division isn’t solely preparing students for jobs only in the hotel sector, as Dr. Bogicevic outlines.

“We believe that our mission is really to prepare students to pursue these advanced positions in hospitality operations or entry level positions in the corporate world and finance, real estate, analytics, travel technologies, or destination marketing and events. So we tend to cover a pretty broad spectrum of careers. And most of our students end up finding themselves at relatively advanced positions once they complete the degrees. Unlike some of the other programs that I think are a bit more locally focused and focused on the hotel operations.”

(Students utlizing new tech in the Brand Management course at the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality)

Another benefit for students is the Tisch Center’s NYC location, providing students with access to one of the primary hospitality industry hubs in the world. Dr. Bogicevic recalls telling students “New York City is your playground. You can study hospitality anywhere, but here, (you) get the chance to both study and practice it at the same time while you're finishing your degree.”

For more about the Tisch Center of Hospitality, hit play on Dr. Bogicevic’s A HOTEL PODCAST interview below, where the Clinical Associate Professor shares student success stories from the Hospitality Innovation Hub, delves into the program’s degree offerings and hospitality-focused curriculum, and previews how she sees hospitality tech evolving in 2024.

Find more via the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. And subscribe for more from A Hotel Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Hosted by Jaime Black.