On Wednesday evening, the School of Hotel Administration’s H ADM 243: Marketing Management for the Hospitality Industry class hosted a speaking engagement which featured Rachel Rosen ’96, director of marketing for the National Basketball Association. The event took place in the Statler Auditorium after much coordination by all the students in the marketing class, who planned the entire evening as part of a class project.
“The emphasis of the project is not only for [students] to gain practical knowledge of the marketing field,” explained Prof. Kendra L. Harris, marketing information systems, strategy and tourism, “but also to translate that into a real execution of a plan. It was established in a way to mimic what they would do in the real world.”
Among other things, students in the class were responsible for contacting the speaker, arranging the venue and advertising for the event.
“One challenging part of the presentation was trying to find out what the audience wanted [Rosen] to emphasize in the presentation and how she could best help students,” said Jin Hae Shon ’06, who was the point person in the correspondence group, one of the many committees within the class. The correspondence group was responsible for all communications with Rosen.
As a result of their research, the marketing class selected Rosen as an ideal speaker candidate because of her unique role as a hotel school graduate working outside the hospitality industry as well as her success as a woman in a male-dominated industry.
Rosen, originally from Monmouth County, N.J., spoke Wednesday about her experiences working for the NBA. She made it clear that she was proud of her Cornell heritage and was delighted to have the opportunity to share her knowledge with current students.
“I’ve really been looking forward to [this event],” Rosen said. “Having a father and a brother that graduated from here, I was looking forward to sharing the knowledge I have gained since graduation with the undergraduate class.”
Rosen also cited the experiences she had at Cornell as an integral first step in her career.
“The curriculum, the different opportunities, [a hotel school] not being the norm in any other university, being top-notch and very hands-on,” she said. “It’s really the hands-on business model that worked for me.”
Rosen focused on how the internship opportunities she encountered through Cornell as an undergraduate, as well as her coursework, helped her obtain her dream job. Other students who attended the event were encouraged by what she had to say.
Raphael Shure ’05 and Jonathan Kotler ’05, co-presidents of the Cornell Sports Management Club, were impressed by her success in the sports industry.
“I thought it was really interesting to see someone from the hotel school be in a field that doesn’t necessarily relate to hotels,” Shure said.
“It’s a good opportunity for Cornell students to see an example set before them of how to get involved in this industry, with a successful graduate in a very exciting and dynamic industry,” Kotler added.
Overall, both the students in the marketing class and Harris seemed happy with the success of the event.
“I think it was really good for [the students] to see how they can come together and see their ideas come to fruition,” Harris said.
Archived article by Andrew Beckwith