From left to right, Lisa Cartwright of Long Beach, Dana Shankland of Biloxi, Erin Schmermund of Gulfport, instructor David Paster and Michelle Bruce of Gulfport stop to pose for a photo in the Stratosphere, which overlooks the city of Las Vegas.

Southern Miss Tourism Management Class Uses Las Vegas as Classroom

When thoughts of Las Vegas, Nev., come to mind, they may involve wedding bells, heart-stopping shows and, of course, gaming. However, to the four students of the Casino Enterprise Management course at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, Las Vegas has become their classroom.

David Paster, MBA/MUP/CCM, an instructor with the Department of Tourism Management for the College of Business at Southern Miss, made an agreement with the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino to allow his best and brightest students to spend one week in Las Vegas to conduct a comprehensive marketing research and analysis both internally and on 14 other competitive properties located downtown.

The four students, Lisa Cartwright of Long Beach, Dana Shankland of Biloxi, Erin Schmermund of Gulfport and Michelle Bruce of Gulfport, spent seven days in January compiling data and insight for the case study, including meeting with Golden Gate Hotel and Casino owner Marc Brandenburg, Heather Sobczak, marketing and promotions manager, and Scott D’Angelo, vice president of marketing and other key staff members. Further, the students had opportunities to tour various hotels, nightclubs, VIP areas, concert venues, surveillance rooms and also the operations of several industry suppliers.

“We tried to get the best sense of all that goes on (in Las Vegas) and expose the students to things that I could not show them. It was a practicum,” said Paster. “They garner real experience and connections.”

Using evaluation forms to gather information, the students surveyed each downtown casino. Acting similar to secret shoppers, the students rated each casino on such items as relative service levels, appearance, game mix, food and beverage outlets, capacity, hotel product and amenities (e.g., spa, boutiques).

“We have mounds and mounds of research that we did in just a short amount of time because we had to go to every casino on Fremont (Street) and see what they’re doing with their slot club and re-investment, how players are being treated, how many hotel rooms they have, etc.,” said Erin Schmermund, a junior working on her undergraduate degree in tourism management.

The students will use the spring semester to format their research into a paper that will be submitted to their instructor and the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. Casino Enterprise Management, a gaming publication that fully sponsored the trip to Las Vegas, will publish the student’s findings in its June issue. Casino Enterprise Management’s publisher Peter Mead already printed in the January 2008 edition a study on price point sensitivity completed by Paster’s fall 2007 Casino/Resort Financial Analysis class.

“As much information as you could pack into your brain for one week, that’s how much information we had,” said Schmermund. “Knowledge-wise, I wouldn’t have traded that week for anything. If there are any students who want to get into this industry, they should be able to talk to these people and have this experience.”

Paster described the Casino Enterprise Management course as “applied marketing, accounting and finance in a real-world situation. We are grateful to Dr. Alvin Williams, dean of the College of Business, Dr. Tony Henthorne, tourism management chair, and the Southern Miss support staff that allowed for this innovative learning event.”

“The class is acting as a consulting firm,” added Paster. “We turn in our analysis to the Golden Gate and they’re going to utilize it for their redevelopment. They’ll use the guidelines, at their discretion, to help clarify direction. This opportunity was a win-win situation. What worked best for them is that we had four sets of eyes that weren’t jaded, but still possessed means, from what they had learned the previous semester in their other courses, to complete an excellent job of applying their skill set.”

Southern Miss Gulf Coast to Offer Bachelor's Degree in Marketing
The College of Business at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast will offer a bachelor's degree in marketing beginning in the fall 2008 semester. The program, which will mirror the program on the Hattiesburg campus, is expected to accommodate the schedules of all students. "We try to put students who are taking particular courses at particular times in a certain flow of classes so that they build on each other," said Dr. Tony Henthorne, chair of the Department of Tourism Management, professor of marketing, and executive editor of the publication, Journal of Tourism: An International Research Journal on Travel and Tourism . "We are looking at how best to sequence the timing of the classes so that we reach the largest student base that we have - both the traditional and non-traditional students." The new marketing major will allow the university to respond to the ongoing demand for marketing-related skill sets on the Gulf Coast says Dr. Alvin Williams, interim dean and professor in the College of Business.

Julian Ingalls, president of the newly founded Delta Epsilon Chi (DEC) chapter, traveled with advisor Dr. Jennifer Sequeira to the State Career Development Conference in Tupelo, Feb 25-27, where he placed second in the marketing management competition and third in the advertising competition. Julian will now represent the state of Mississippi in these events at the Delta Epsilon Chi International Conference in Orlando, Fla., in April.

Around 150 students from 15 Mississippi colleges and universities competed in areas of entrepreneurship, marketing, human resources, financial services, apparel and accessories and e-commerce.Delta Epsilon Chi (a college/university level DECA) is an organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, management, merchandising, banking and finance, culinary arts and entrepreneurship. If you have students who may be interested in this organization, please let them know that there will be a meeting in Joseph Green Hall Room 212 on theHattiesburg campus on Tuesday, March 6 at 5:30 p.m. Dr. Leon Bracey, Delta Epsilon Chi state coordinator will be the speaker.

In the photo above, Julian Ingalls (left) is pictured with Dr. Leon Bracey.