What you need to know about RHIM
Have you ever thought about managing your own restaurant or hotel?
The Restaurant Hotel and Institutional Management program, RHIM, at Texas Tech can help you reach that goal. The department is among the top programs in the nation.
The Tech fact sheet released last year showed that the RHIM program is the seventh largest undergraduate program on campus.
“The RHIM program is one that has about 500 undergrads,” said Charlie Adams, recruitment coordinator for Nutrition, Hospitality, and Retailing. “All of the students receive a generalist hospitality degree.”
Adams said this general degree is because students come to college not knowing exactly what they want to do and change their mind and the direction they want to go.
Steve Blum, assistant chairperson for Nutrition, Hospitality, and Retailing, said that the RHIM program gives students an opportunity to gain experience in each of the avenues.
“Larger universities have the different tracks for students to take,” Blum said. “In all reality, students don’t come to college knowing exactly what they want to do. We want to give them a well-rounded experience with hospitality.”
Blum also said that students are required to take a variety of business courses along with the hospitality courses.
“When I talk to incoming freshman and parents,” said Blum, “I explain this as a business degree with a hospitality emphasis.”
Adams said the students spend at least 200 hours at Skyviews and hotels in laboratory settings to gain hands-on experience in the field.
Blum said there are three classes undergraduates are required to take which involve lab time at Skyviews. The classes range from basic kitchen skills to setting up a dinner series.
“Our dinner series class is a cap stone for the food service component,” Blum said. “The students are pretty much managers of Skyviews for a night. They have to advertise, decorate, develop menus, and set up food costs.”
Along with lab time, Blum also said that students are required to complete 800 hours of relevant hospitality experience which includes an internship. The internship is required in the students’ sophomore or junior year.
“We require students to have 400 hours in an internship outside of Lubbock,” Blum said. “The whole experience of leaving Lubbock and working full-time lets the students find out if this is what they really want to do.”
Adams said that the department prepares the students for their future careers and there is a lot of faculty and student interaction.
“We develop a relationship with the students from the beginning until graduation,” said Adams. “We’re working for the kids and it really makes no difference which branch they choose. We just want them to represent the program well.”
Adams said that all recruiting of the department’s students is done in house.
“We have about 40 to 50 companies come in per semester to interview students,” he said. “This degree gives students a lot of latitude with what they can do.”
Blum said that the main focus of the department is making sure the students are where they want to be.
“Through internship and work experience, we hope that the students have a really good understanding of what they want to do,” said Blum. “Students really need to enjoy their work.”