overview

The Restaurant, Hotel, and Meetings Management (RHM) Program at The University of Alabama was established in 1985 as part of the Department of Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management, College of Human Environmental Sciences. Over six-hundred students have graduated from the RHM program and are employed in a variety of hospitality management positions throughout the United States. There are approximately 400 students currently enrolled in the on-campus program. The Executive Restaurant and Hospitality Management Program (ExRHM), implemented in 2003, enables working professionals to earn a bachelor′s degree part-time using a combination of on-campus seminars, prior learning, independent study and traditional coursework. The Restaurant, Hotel, and Meetings Management Program at The University of Alabama also provides courses through distance learning to the U.S.  Army′s largest e-learning virtual university program, GoArmyEd.

mission statement

The mission of the Restaurant, Hotel, and Meetings Management (RHM) Program at The University of Alabama is to “educate future leaders for the hospitality and tourism industries” by creating successful managers and future executives for positions in restaurants, hotel and lodging properties, convention bureaus, conference and meeting centers, private clubs, commercial, institutional and health care food services, and contract management companies through intensive academic courses and work experience in approved practicums and internships.

undergraduate program

The restaurant, hotel, and meetings management (RHM) program offers a variety of courses designed to develop the skills and abilities required for a career in hospitality management. The curriculum prepares the student for careers in meeting, convention, and special event management, hotel event services, convention and visitors bureau sales and services, convention center operations, hotel food and beverage management, hotel marketing and sales and country club management, and restaurant, commercial and institutional food service operations. Students must complete 120 hours of coursework and complete a 500 hour practicum or internship in hospitality management. Students must complete a concentration in meetings/events, hotel/lodging, or restaurant/food and beverage or complete a minor in another approved discipline. A minor in RHM is not offered.

Program goals

  • Provide a common body of knowledge in hospitality administration coupled with a broad education and awareness of values, skills, and attitudes which will prepare students for imaginative and responsible citizenship roles in the hospitality industry and society.
  • Enable students to understand and apply the concepts of problem-solving in general and in organizational and industry-related issues.
  • Students must complete 120 hours of coursework and complete a 500 hour internship in hospitality management.
  • Students must complete a general concentration or a concentration in meetings/events, hotel/lodging, or restaurant/food and beverage. A minor in RHM is not offered.