Most colleges and universities would prefer its students to stay as far away from casinos as possible. In fact, in 2006 Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, petitioned the State Gaming Board to block the construction of a slots parlor within a mile of its campus. The slots parlor was ultimately built across town, but officials at Duquesne would have preferred that it were never built at all. No such controversy exists at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). UNLV sits surrounded by casinos and it embraces them. The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration houses one of the world’s premier hotel administration programs.
History of the Program
The program began in 1967 with 16 students. By the late 1980s, the college had grown so much that it began to branch off into various departments, including food and beverage management, tourism and convention administration, and hotel management. Additionally, a Master’s degree option was added. At the end of the 1980’s, a generous $5 million donation from the Holiday Corporation and William Harrah’s widow lead to the renaming of the school to honor the iconic Nevada casino owner. The 1990’s saw the addition of a Doctoral program and the creation of the International Gaming Institute.
Program Offerings
click here to see most Popular PagesStudents can choose from a wide variety of fields of study. Program offerings include lodging management, gaming management, food and beverage management, recreation management, private and public club management, entertainment management, professional golf management, meeting and convention management, or timeshare management. Administrators like to call Las Vegas a “living laboratory”, and with more than 125,000 hotel rooms and some of the greatest entertainment in the world the phrase makes perfect sense. Consequently, internships play a major role in the completion of each program.
Plans for the Future
The school continues to grow in popularity. Today, the Harrah College of Hotel Administration has nearly 2,500 students enrolled from 42 states and 39 countries. A major future plan for the school is INNovation Village, which will consist of an on-campus hotel, shops, a restaurant, a conference center, and an academic building. Most institutions of higher learning would be weary of a campus located near so many casinos, but for UNLV it’s the school’s location that makes it possible for the world-renowned program to exist. While there are other college and universities that offer these majors, none are able to offer the real-world learning experiences that UNLV can.
