Meet our graduate students and alumni . . .
Dr. Linchi Kwok
Hospitality Administration
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I first came to Texas Tech University from Canton (Guangzhou), China in 2001 and received a Master of Science in Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management (RHIM) in 2003. After working in the lodging industry in Houston and mainland China for several years, I was accepted into the doctoral program in Hospitality Administration at Texas Tech. Now that I am graduating for a second time, I feel even more grateful to the faculty, staff, colleagues, and friends at Texas Tech. Their support has been important throughout my course of study, and their influence will reach other students when I begin my academic career in the fall of 2009 as an assistant professor at Syracuse University in New York. The M.S. in RHIM and Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration have different foci; each provided me tremendous opportunities to grow. When I was working on my M.S. degree, the RHIM program offered me a teaching assistant position. I oversaw the labs at Skyviews Restaurant and the production kitchen of university dining services. This job not only helped me gain valuable operational experience in foodservice and practice laboratory teaching skills but also paid my tuition and living expenses. Since my area of concentration was lodging operations, Dr. Charlie Adams assisted me in finding internships at two local hotels. Both the teaching and internship experiences were important to launching my professional career in lodging upon graduation. | |
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During my doctoral studies, I worked closely with different faculty members in teaching, research, advising, and community service. The RHIM program employed me as a graduate parttime instructor where I taught a junior level course on Managed Services -- on-site foodservice management. To help me succeed in the classroom, the program required several teaching pedagogy courses in my degree plan. When I began teaching, I received constructive advice from senior faculty members and timely feedback from Dr. Charlie Adams, my mentor and dissertation chair. Teaching undergraduate RHIM classes allowed me to financially support my doctoral studies and continuously improve my teaching skills and effectiveness. |
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Research is a major scholarly activity, and I was able to take a variety of research methods and statistics courses. I was also very fortunate to be able to collaborate with faculty in interdisciplinary research. Financially, the RHIM program, the College of Human Sciences, the graduate school, and the International Cultural Center provided me the support I needed to take part in research projects. Since 2007, I have presented my research 11 times at national or international conferences. Scholarships, fellowships, and travel allowances helped me support my travel expenses. Two examples of these awards were winning the 1st Place in the 8th Annual Graduate Student Research Poster Competition and the 2009 Summer Dissertation/Thesis Research Award. Additionally, I worked in the Student Services Center in the College of Human Sciences and reported to the director, Dr. Charlie Adams. Over the years, I maintained a close relationship with industry recruiters, advised students in internships and career planning, and assisted the college with new student orientations. Because of my experiences in recruiting and advising students, I adopted a mixed methods approach in my dissertation to assess hospitality recruiters' selection criteria in hiring graduating seniors; I plan to conduct more studies in this area. Student life at Texas Tech is exciting and the opportunities for entertainment abound. I have been a member of several student and professional organizations and have participated in a variety of extra-curricular activities. These community service experiences have improved my leadership skills and have taught me the importance of networking as well as the significance of good citizenship. I truly appreciate what I have learned through industry work experiences, teaching, research, advising, and service as a graduate student. Thanks to Texas Tech University, I believe I am prepared to join the ranks of academia as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Hospitality Management at Syracuse University in the fall of 2009. |
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