Source: Deborah Canter, 785-532-5507, canter@k-state.edu
Web sites: http://www.humec.k-state.edu/hmd/ and http://jht.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/33/4/451
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

K-STATE'S DEPARTMENT OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT AND DIETETICS RANKS 14TH AMONG THE WORLD'S TOP 100 RESEARCH PROGRAMS

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's department of hospitality management and dietetics has been named one of the top hospitality management research programs in the world, according to an article in November's Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. Of the 100 programs ranked, K-State is No. 14.

"It makes a huge statement about the research and publication productivity of our faculty, especially considering the size of our department's graduate faculty and who our competition is," said Deb Canter, head of K-State's department of hospitality management and dietetics.

Canter said the ranking puts the department closer to being recognized as an international pacesetter in food service and hospitality management graduate education and research.

According to Canter, the K-State ranking goes to show that a small number of focused researchers can make a big difference as many of the programs ranked ahead of K-State have more researchers and a different focus.

"I am extremely proud of the focus and productivity of our faculty," she said. "We have 15 doctoral students, five master's students, a new online master's degree in dietetics and more than 500 undergraduate students. To teach, advise and mentor all these students with a small faculty and still get rated at this level for our research productivity to me is very heartwarming."

The article, written by researchers at the University of Central Florida, includes an analysis of the scholarly contributions of researchers from each institution to 11 prominent hospitality and tourism journals from 2002 to 2006. The authors counted the number of articles, article instances and the number of contributing authors, also categorizing them by world region.

The journals surveyed were: The Annals of Tourism Research, The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, The Florida International University Hospitality Review, The International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, The International Journal of Hospitality Management, The Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, The Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education, The Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, The Journal of Travel Research, The Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing and The Journal of Tourism Management.

"For several years, our faculty and graduate students have garnered numerous 'best paper' awards at professional conferences focused on hospitality management research," Canter said. "We have been building our reputation for a long time. To finally see us recognized in a peer-refereed journal in this way is most gratifying."

Virginia Moxley, dean of the College of Human Ecology, said the ranking highlights the outstanding scholarship of faculty in the department of hospitality management and dietetics.

"We expect great things of our faculty and this ranking illustrates how they exceed our expectations," she said. "These researchers are also fine teachers and professional leaders. The scholarly contributions represented in this body of work have advanced knowledge in hospitality and food-service management worldwide."

Canter said one area the study didn't take into account was her department's research commitment to the issue of food safety.

"A major research priority for our department is in the area of food safety. We focus on challenges of safe food handling in commercial and noncommercial food-service operations where the public consumes more than half of their meals," Canter said. "The journals that were scanned for the purpose of this article are not typically places where food safety research is published. Thus, our faculty members are even more productive than this article reveals."

The article is available at http://jht.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/33/4/451