Hospitality Management

Do you picture yourself planning for and working at the US Open, the Olympics, and other high profile events? Interested in learning how to manage a successful restaurant, bar or club? Do you picture yourself running a five-star hotel or perhaps an out-of-the-way bed and breakfast?

East Carolina University's bachelor degree in hospitality management offers three concentration areas.

A focus on conventions and special events management allows students to explore the excitement of the hospitality industry. This major focuses on educating and training individuals to work in environments such as convention centers and private clubs or to run their own event planning business. Students learn the ropes of special event planning and coordinating through projects, faculty mentoring, and a required internship.

The concentration in food and beverage management will allow you to become a part of one of the largest industries in the country. Students focusing in food and beverage will learn the ins and outs of working in the food industry through hands-on experience in our culinary labs and a required internship. Graduates could work in restaurant management, contract food service, catering, fine dining, quick service or using their education and entrepreneurial spirit to open their own restaurant.

Hospitality management students who concentrate in lodging management are preparing themselves for a career that can provide international opportunities as well as local career options. Students will learn from industry-leading professionals to work in a lodging operation by taking courses that teach and train them to work with a team in a professional environment. Graduates of this program have found jobs in different operations such as local bed and breakfasts or large corporations like Marriott and Hyatt.

The School of Hospitality Leadership at ECU assures that students in all concentration will receive a high-quality education and preparation for a career in the hospitality industry. Our internationally recognized faculty work side-by-side with students on building their expertise in their chosen field.

ECU Advantage

The largest hospitality program in North Carolina and one of the largest in the Southeast, the ECU School of Hospitality Leadership is well known. Our partnerships with Universidad San Francisco de Quito, (Ecuador) Universitaria Poliécnico Grancolombiano (Bogata, Colombia), Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (Lima, Peru) and Universidad Nacional de San Agustin (Arequipa, Peru) and the Disney International Program bring an international perspective to our eastern North Carolina program.

ECU has relationships with companies such as ARAMARK, Darden restaurants, Chick- Fil-A, and the Biltmore Estate. Through these partnerships, our students participate in internships often leading to full-time jobs upon graduation.

Our internationally recognized faculty work side-by-side with students on building their expertise in their chosen field. The School of Hospitality Leadership is devoted to helping students achieve and succeed at ECU and in the lodging industry.