The School of Hospitality Business is an industry-specific school within the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, commonly referred to as "The School." Founded in 1927 as the nation's first business-based hotel training course, The School of Hospitality Business now has 802 undergraduate students, 22 graduate students, and 13 faculty members.Students in The School earn more than $300,000 each academic year in merit-based scholarships.HistoryMSU's School of Hospitality Business was founded in 1927 when the Education Committee of the Michigan Hotel Association met to discuss development of a college-level hotel management school, after which Michigan State approved a hotel training course. When classes started, there were 18 students majoring in the hotel training course.In 1947, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation granted $1.4 million for construction of the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. That year, the program was also divided into three major areas of concentration: hotel management, restaurant management, and institutional management.In 1951, Kellogg Center for Continuing Education was opened. The first general manager was Weldon Garrison, a 1946 graduate of The School of Hospitality Business. The school's offices were moved to the Kellogg Center, enrollment increased to approximately 300, and the Les Gourmets dinner-dance was founded as annual event.
"The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University has launched the careers of thousands of leaders in hospitality and service professions and transformed the landscape of hospitality education. Founded in 1927, we are hailed as the original hospitality business school and rank among the top hospitality programs in the nation."
