Siguaw named dean of Cornell-Nanyang hospitality management program

Judy Siguaw, a chaired professor at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, has just been named founding dean of the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI) in Singapore.

Siguaw

The CNI program came into being last November when Cornell President Jeffrey S. Lehman and the president of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Su Guaning, met at Cornell's Statler Hotel to sign the historic agreement creating it.

In her new position, Siguaw will direct the CNI's 12-month Master of Management in Hospitality program. The joint program, to be housed at NTU in Singapore, is the first graduate program in hospitality management in Asia and is much needed. The demand for managerial talent has intensified as the region experiences huge growth in travel, tourism and international hotel properties, driven by a more-affluent middle class and increased trade since China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

"I look forward to the opportunities and challenges this new venture will present," said Siguaw, who will move to Singapore in March. "CNI represents an exciting opportunity to leverage the brand names of two prestigious institutions, while creating a renowned hospitality program for students seeking expertise in Asian markets."

"Judy Siguaw is an ideal choice to lead this historic new venture," said David W. Butler, dean of the Hotel School. "We are confident that under Judy's lead, CNI will quickly emerge as the pacesetter in producing the next generation of leaders for the hospitality industry in Asia."

Said Hong Hai, dean of NTU's Nanyang Business School, "Judy Siguaw's appointment is an important step forward for CNI, which aims to set the standard for hospitality management education in this part of the world."

Siguaw, a noted scholar in sales and marketing, joined the Hotel School faculty in 1997 and is now the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise. Her findings on such subjects as hoteliers competing for room sales with Internet-based third parties have been cited in The New York Times as well as in leading hospitality publications. She has published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Travel Research and the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly.

She is a co-author of Hospitality Sales: Selling Smarter (Thomson Delmar Learning, 2003); Introducing LISREL: A Guide for the Uninitiated (Sage Publications, 2000); and American Lodging Excellence: The Key to the Best Practices in the U.S. Lodging Industry (Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, 1999). She holds a D.B.A. and an MBA from Louisiana Tech University and a B.B.A. from Lamar University.

The first joint degree program both for Cornell's Hotel School and Nanyang Technological University, Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management is expected to enroll up to 50 students starting in July 2006. They will divide their time between the Singapore and Ithaca campuses. The program dovetails with Lehman's vision for Cornell as a transnational university.