PORTSMOUTH, N.H. � JULY 18, 2002 � Knowing all too well that those who practice with the best can compete with the best, the University of New Hampshire is expanding its incorporation of Newmarket International Inc.�s DelphiTM group, sales, catering and banquet solutions into its Hospitality Management Program.

UNH began teaching Hospitality Management students using the Delphi application and Newmarket�s New Employee, Power Banquet & Event Order and Banquet Check CBT training modules, in Spring 2001. Demand for Delphi experience by hiring hotel properties and the ability to test drive hospitality�s market-leading Sales & Catering solutions have led a record number of students to take the hands-on course.

�Just one year after Newmarket International so kindly donated its technology and time, this most recent course has become so popular that we have decided to add our first Fall course involving hands-on Delphi classwork in 2003,� said Professor Udo Schlentrich of UNH�s Whittemore School of Business & Economics � Department of Hospitality Management.

Sean O�Neill, President & CEO of Newmarket International, said that when businesses partner with top academia, real-world teaching can really drive home the theories presented in course text books and lectures.

�Perhaps the best thing about a corporate-academia partnership such as this is that the entire hospitality industry benefits as graduating students are more prepared than ever before to use our industry-standard Group, Sales & Catering solutions,� O�Neill said. �It�s all about teaching these future hoteliers tools and technologies that they can take with them so they can be productive from Day 1.�

Professor Udo said the hands-on Sales & Catering course culminates with a comprehensive case study in which students deliver in-depth meetings proposals for a resort property, including creating everything from budgets to BEO�s and detailed menus for 40 or more events.

�Without Newmarket�s donation of its Delphi application and related Power BEO, Banquet Check and CBT Modules, as well as the time of its Manager of Education Development, we couldn�t offer our students this critical hands-on classroom training,� Professor Udo said. 

�This partnership has been an enormous success all around � for our Hospitality Management Program and UNH as a whole, as well as for our students, Newmarket and the industry in general,� Professor Udo said. �We hope to duplicate this hands-on course through partnerships with other hospitality technology leaders in key fields such as Property Management Systems, Point of Sale, and Security just to name just a few.�

O�Neill seconded the notion that this Newmarket-UNH partnership could be the springboard for similar ventures.

�Because our involvement with academia makes sense for all involved, we hope to partner in similar fashion with top Hospitality Management programs from coast to coast,� O�Neill said. �Aside from just wanting to do our part and give back to the industry, there�s a side benefit that we cannot deny: It never hurts to have dozens of hospitality professionals entering the market who essentially have become early adopters and proponents of our solutions.�

Renae Ouellette, a UNH Hospitality Management graduate who took the hands-on Sales & Catering course, said her Dephi classroom experience played a key role in Benchmark Hospitality hiring her as Catering Planning Manager at The Founders Inn and Convention Center in Virginia Beach, Va.

�In this job market, if you want a Sales & Catering management position, you better have Delphi experience,� said Ouellette. �For dozens of us at UNH every year, the only place to gain that critical Delphi experience is in the classroom. �
    
The University of New Hampshire�s Hospitality Management Program is one of only four programs worldwide that is accredited by both the American Assembly of Colleges and Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA). Founded in 1866 in Durham, the University of New Hampshire is a public University serving an undergraduate population of 10,500 students. UNH is recognized among public universities for the quality of the academic experience it provides to its students.