Meet our graduate students and alumni . . .
Ju-Yu Ho
Hospitality Administration
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Who would think of pursuing a doctoral degree after being away from the classrooms for more than 10 years? Well, I did and Texas Tech University (TTU) gave me the great opportunity to become a student again. In 2004, I came to the United States from my home country, Taiwan to fulfill my dream. I became a doctoral student in the Hospitality Administration Program in the Department of Nutrition, Hospitality, and Retailing in the College of Human Sciences with an honored award of the AT&T Chancellor's Endowed Fellowship for three years. Being a people person, I always like to meet and be with people. Therefore, I soon found that a hospitality career would be a perfect choice for me. After I received my bachelor's degree in Business Administration at Tamkang University in Taiwan, I applied for the graduate study in Hospitality Management at Florida International University (FIU) and decided to become a hotel manager. During that time, I was the first female among my family and relatives who traveled overseas to the other side of the world to receive an education. | |
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After graduating from FIU, I worked more than eight years for various hotel departments in several international hotels in Florida and Taiwan. I was a night auditor, front desk agent, guest relations officer, assistant to the hotel GM, sales manager, and banquet manager. I felt like I was working on a jigsaw puzzle. I had a piece of experience from front desk, a piece of experience from back office, and a piece from accounting, sales, and banqueting. And then when I put those puzzle pieces together, I saw the whole picture of a hotel's operation. While working in the industry, I saw that some hospitality students dropped out from their internship program because of the gap between what the university had taught them and what they saw in the real work environment. I then had a thought of becoming a teacher so that I would be able to share my knowledge and experience with students. Therefore, I took the opportunity to become an instructor at a private university in Taiwan. After two years of teaching, I realized that I needed to advance my knowledge in educational philosophies and improve my research skills in order to become a professional educator and researcher in the field. So, soon I was at TTU in Lubbock, Texas for four years pursuing my goal. In the first semester of my doctoral study, the Graduate Advisor of the Hospitality Administration Program, Dr. Betty L. Stout, mentored me through the coursework planning in details which gave me a clearer picture of how I could accomplish the task. During the four-year study, I was inspired by the educational environment, knowledgeable faculty members, and academic freedom of TTU. I was able to explore any research topic that I felt interested in with support and guidance from the program's faculty members. Before beginning my dissertation, I was able to conduct research on hotel performance reviews in the Greater China area, employees' equity perception in the International Tourists Hotels in Taiwan, and the internship experiences of hospitality students as hotel receptionists. For my dissertation, I chose to study hotel expatriates. |
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In the hotel industry in Taiwan, it is a common practice for international hotel chains to hire expatriates to manage their overseas hotels. Especially during the initial hotel development period, skilled employees and managers acquainted with modern hotel business practices are very scarce. Because of my previous experience working with hotel expatriates, I was very interested in learning why those western hotel managers decided to work in Asian countries, how they coped with different cultures, and how they succeeded in their overseas assignments. With the full support from my dissertation chair, Dr. Ben Goh, I decided to conduct in-depth interviews and write stories about my ex-colleagues who worked in the Greater China Area as hotel expatriates. I believe that we can learn from their stories. A good story touches people's heart and soul. Upon graduation in August 2008, I accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University (BU). The university is located in the heart of Boston, one of this nation's oldest cities and one of the world's great urban centers with abundant resources for students and educators in the field of hospitality administration. The city has heritage and cultural attractions that bring millions of domestic and overseas tourists. More than 1,000 restaurants and 100 hotels, and three convention centers are operated in the city. After teaching for one year at BU, I find myself enjoying teaching very much because I can still be with people - albeit they are students rather than hotel guests. In addition, I have the opportunity to see students learning and growing every day. I truly appreciate the education that I received at Texas Tech University. It has changed my life and helped me become the person I want to be. |
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