July 2014 - Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

Philip Goldfarb Appointed Chair of the Advisory Council at the Chaplin School

Philip Goldfarb, President and Chief Operating Officer at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, has been appointed the esteemed position of chair of the Advisory Council at FIU's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. Mike Hampton, Ed.D., Dean of the Chaplin School, announced. Dean Hampton is very pleased that Mr. Goldfarb accepted the position and has "every confidence that his leadership will build on the University's previous work." Goldfarb has remained an influential alumnus of the Chaplin School since his graduation. Most recently, Goldfarb served as vice chair and has been a key advisor for school’s strategic initiatives for almost a decade. "I am deeply honored to assume the chairmanship of the Advisory Council at my alma mater, Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. I will approach this opportunity with enthusiasm and dedication, and look forward to using the expertise I have gained throughout my years in the hospitality industry to benefit the students, programs, and overall Chaplin School," states Goldfarb. As President and Chief Operating Officer at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Goldfarb oversees all aspects of the oceanfront hotel that spans more than 20 acres and features over 1,500 rooms and suites. Goldfarb's education at the Chaplin School is the foundation of his extensive career in the hospitality industry, which has led to him implementing innovative programming and state-of-the-art physical enhancements at the iconic Miami Beach hotel. Under Goldfarb’s leadership, Fontainebleau launched BleauLive, an entertainment platform that merges one-of-a-kind vacation experiences with performances by top musical artists. Goldfarb has also been instrumental in numerous projects, including introducing new restaurant concepts and multi-million dollar renovations. He was awarded the school's "Torchbearer Award” as well as the University's prestigious "FIU Medallion" in 2007 and the Miami Beach Chamber [...]

Chaplin Student Lands Job after Using Symplicity for the First Time

When Chaplin School junior Diosmary Vega created a Symplicity account to begin her job search in May 2014, she did not know what to expect. She learned about the web-based program from e-mails sent by the career development staff at the Chaplin School and decided to give it a try. She applied for about seven different jobs, and just few days later, she was already interviewing with two hotels in Miami. Diosmary landed a job with the Courtyard Cadillac Miami Beach Oceanfront in June 2014, a hotel with a history of recruiting from the Chaplin School. "I think Symplicity is great for finding job opportunities and the process is really simple. I was working at a bank before and had no experience in hospitality. Symplicity helped me get my foot in the industry," Diosmary said. The J. Willard & Alice S. Marriot Foundation Career Development Program has made Symplicity available to Chaplin School students in January 2012. During the 2013-2014 academic year, over 1,700 opportunities for jobs, internships, and volunteer positions were posted. Currently, close to 4,000 students are actively using the system and over 2,000 employers are registered. The office has a dedicated staff who assists students and alumni with professional development workshops, resume and portfolio advising, as well as targeted job search. Chaplin School career advisor Lourdes Gomez was recently profiled in FIU News. Read More

Chaplin School Professor Wins Best Paper Award at Global Conference in Vietnam

Eunju Suh, Ph.D., hospitality management professor, recently attended the 20th Asia Pacific Tourism Association (APTA) Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where she presented a study entitled "Predicting Cross-Gaming Propensity Using CHAID Analysis" (Eunju Suh and Matt Alhaery). Using a data set of 14,120 casino customers, this study aimed to predict a player’s propensity to play different types of casino games. The Exhaustive Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (E-CHAID) method was employed to predict table game players’ slot play propensity and vice versa. The findings of this study will help marketers identify customers that are most likely to cross-play and maximize gaming revenues from more efficient and effective marketing actions. After a rigorous evaluation process of more than 100 papers presented during the conference, the selection committee conferred Dr. Suh with the Best Paper Award. Why was this topic important to you? With the expansion of the casino industry in the global casino market, marketers are looking for opportunities to generate more revenues and improve their player acquisition and retention methods. Hence, customer data to identify, segment and target potential and existing customers have become more important than ever. Analyzing gaming (casino play) data would enable marketers to better understand customer behavior and predict specific behaviors. While casino marketers would agree on the importance of customer data collection and data driven-marketing, in gaming literature, there has been relatively little effort focused on prediction and classification of customer behavior using the actual recorded gaming data of existing casino patrons. What innovative approaches did you employ in this study? Considering the lack of research on the topic of cross-gaming, this study provides a better understanding of players’ cross-gaming behavior while making a meaningful contribution to the pool [...]

Hospitality Students Recognized for Leadership and Community Service at National Conference

An FIU delegation made up of 12 students, including three hospitality management students, scored big at the 2014 FBLA-PBL National Leadership Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee from June 24 – 27. The students, who are all part of FIU's chapter of Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL), won in several categories against students from other nationally-renowned universities including Penn State, Rutgers University, and the University of California-Berkley, among others. Three of the twelve awards presented at the conference were won by hospitality management students Caroline Scher, Noelle Belli, and Gedma Estrada. Senior Gedma Estrada, placed third for the Local Chapter Annual Business Report category and in the Future Business Executive category. The students' community service project placed second in the entire nation and was especially gratifying because of its mission. The project was coordinated with the JAM Foundation, an organization that focuses on raising awareness of teen suicide, depression, bullying, self-harm and eating disorders. "This project was a huge success not only because of the monetary donation we were able to make, or because of the many students we were able to reach, but because we helped deliver a message to that one student who could have committed to something irreversible,” said Gedma Estrada. The students sold merchandise, collected donations, and led a general session at Miami Sunset Senior High to inform students about the signs of depression. Through their combined efforts, they were able to raise enough funds to present two seniors at the high school who were in some way impacted by suicide with $1,500 scholarships. The FIU chapter of FBLA-PBL also earned recognition in the following areas: 3rd Best Chapter in the Nation Power of One Recognized School Outstanding PBL [...]

Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Lab Wins Technology Integration Award

Students at the Chaplin School have access to some of the most innovative learning spaces for hospitality management education.

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