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Hospitality Students at Kirkwood Community College
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Receive Second to None
Teaching Experience with the Colleges $24 Million Hotel Project
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Hospitality Students at Kirkwood Community College
Cedar Rapids IA (July 15, 2009) -- The Hotel at Kirkwood Center in Cedar Rapids is quickly taking shape as the city’s latest upscale hotel and conference center; but the 71-room hotel has already become a hands-on learning experience for the students and faculty in Kirkwood Community College’s Culinary Arts, Restaurant Management and Lodging Management programs. “This is one of the most innovative endeavors ever attempted by a community college,” said Kirkwood President Mick Starcevich. “It’s going to be a first-class hotel, but beyond that, it’s literally going to be a world-class laboratory for our students that will set it apart from almost any other facility.” But even as the building is taking shape, the hotel is providing valuable real-world experience for Kirkwood students in several programs of study in hospitality management and operations offered by the college. For example, Construction Management students have used the hotel’s blueprints and construction specifications as a focus of study for the past two semesters. “By looking at a real project, they’re able to see some of the problems that come into play and what some of the options are for dealing with them,” said Professor Off. Similarly, students in the Golf Course/Athletic Turf Grass Management program are finding that the projects underway on the Kirkwood campus offer the perfect opportunity to put their developing skills to good use. Troy McQuillen, assistant professor in golf course/athletic turf grass management, is employing the site as a living laboratory in irrigation design, and irrigation installation and repair. Professor McQuillen said, “When I first started teaching, we’d do small projects, put in about 100 feet of irrigation tubing, put the head in and then take it out because we were done with it. Then I thought, ‘Let’s get some value out of it. Let’s start a project, complete it and then turn it on and let the students reap the rewards of their hard work.’ The value of hands-on experience goes above and beyond anything that I could lecture about for two hours in a classroom.” In the Architecture Technology program, Professor Jorge Lopez’s students study architecture technology, construction management and interior design by creating a 3D image of one of the new hotel guestrooms. “When the hotel is built, we will go back to the model and say, ‘Is this what we expected? Did it work?’” The Hotel at Kirkwood Center is moving forward with a $24.1 million budget funded through revenue bonds. When completed, the hotel will employ 65 full-time staff, the Associate Professor, Lee Belfield is excited about both the hotel and the educational resources the project provides. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the experience of building the hotel to benefit our students,” he said. “It takes a lot of coordination because different areas of study have their own course content. But working to achieve that kind of collaboration between the departments on campus makes a lot of sense.” The Hotel at Kirkwood Center and the college hospitality program are located at 7725 Kirkwood Boulevard SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Facilities will include an executive ballroom with seating for 480, nine additional meeting rooms, a restaurant that will serve gourmet meals prepared by Kirkwood’s Culinary Arts students and 71 guestrooms. For additional information, contact 319-848-8700 or visit www.thehotelatkirkwood.com |
| Contact: The Hotel at Kirkwood Center 319-848-8700 www.thehotelatkirkwood.com
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