For 100 years, our school has evolved based upon our founding ethos of “Life is Service.” As we moved “from inn to innovation,” we re-created the service experience in contemporary ways. Two significant events in the past few years have elevated our path to the future. The first is the formation of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Being a part of the college has broadened our community of scholars, strengthened our faculty recruiting efforts, and enabled us to apply the resources of business at Cornell to expand our sense of what’s possible—for our students, our school, and our industry. The second was the historic naming gift from Peter ’80 (Dyson), MBA ’82, and Stephanie ’84 Nolan in 2021. The Nolans’ incredible commitment to student support will mean just as much to the success of our second century as Ellsworth and Alice Statler’s giving meant to the progress of our first.

Building from our deep and meaningful legacy, our school continues to innovate and grow. In the fall of 2022, we launched our newly revised signature undergraduate curriculum, ensuring that our students are equipped with both the skill set and mindset to one day lead our industry. As part of their Hotelie degree, students now choose a specialty in real estate; the business of hospitality; food and beverage design and development; and/or entrepreneurship. Faculty are designing new courses in data analytics; artificial intelligence; sustainability; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—all with a laser focus on our industry. Our students are able to supplement these courses with the strengths of our sister schools in our college. Our newly launched Executive Master of Management in Hospitality (EMMH), a 20-month synchronous online program, is enabling hospitality professionals from around the world to experience our renowned education. And the Cornell-Peking MMH/MBA, a part-time dual-degree program offered with the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, furthers our goal to educate future leaders in all corners of the world. Our students have never been better prepared to take on the challenges of our industry, to innovate and to shape it, and to propel it forward. It is so inspiring to see our students in action and not only witness their graciousness and innovative spirit, but also feel and experience it. Our industry’s future is in great and caring hands.

None of this would be possible without the care and support of you, our dedicated alumni and friends. You have made the school all that it is today. I always reflect that ours is a relationship-driven model and that our school’s success is because of the deep and impactful ways you partner with us to help educate, prepare, and hire our students, the fortunate recipients of your “pay it forward” mindset. When our students reach out, you help them because an alum did it for you! Thank you for contributing to our school’s incredible value proposition and being a part of our historic legacy—a legacy that every educator strives to create and one that we honor and appreciate every day. Our school continues as the hub of our industry and the worldwide premier hospitality educator—and our students graduate prepared with both heart and mind to lead our industry forward.

For me as for you, it has been nothing short of a privilege and an honor to be a Hotelie. No matter where you go around the world, our community is always with you. I was lucky enough to experience that this past year as I traveled to many alumni events and was so graciously and warmly welcomed by each of you. It felt so wonderful to be together again in person, and it reaffirmed for me that hospitality is what connects us as people around the world. As we mark this historic moment, I invite you to come back home to Statler Hall in April for HEC 98 as together, we celebrate the beginning of our next 100 years—a future filled with promise and possibility, all built from our legacy of “Life is Service.”

Kate Walsh
Dean and E.M. Statler Professor
Professor of Management and Organizations