A Message from Dean Upneja

Dear Reader,

All of us at the Boston University, School of Hospitality Administration are thinking about you during this unprecedented and uncertain time. We are concerned about your personal health and well-being, and the collective health and well-being of the hospitality industry.

While it may feel like we are alone while working from home, we are not. There is a vibrant virtual community and this opportunity has allowed us to rekindle connections, business and personal, with others. Many of our students have expressed the sentiment that they now feel closer to their classmates and peers than ever before. Please remember social distancing does NOT mean social isolation. In fact, I prefer the phrase “keep physical distance while maintaining social connections.” Or a pithier yet, “physical distancing while socially and emotionally connecting.”

The hospitality industry is one based on connection and engagement. We are a strong and resilient community that has faced challenges before. Conversations must remain robust to bring people and businesses together and lift each other too. Remember to be patient during these trying times: patient with ourselves, patient with others, and patient with our societal situation.

I can tell you that I am saddened; this is not how any of us expected to start in 2020. But, I know that we will persevere. I have been so inspired by the outpouring of support and feedback we have received from our students, faculty, and staff as we venture into new waters. I am sure that this support is not unique in these trying times. Many communities have been able to help one another and will continue to do so.

We are in this together. Together we are stronger, and together, we will succeed.

Sincerely,

Arun Upneja, Dean and Professor

Boston University School of Hospitality Administration

928 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
T 617-353-3261  F 617-353-6328
www.bu.edu/hospitality

Dr. Arun Upneja is the Dean of the School of Hospitality Administration. Dr. Upneja comes to SHA from The Pennsylvania State University, where he held the positions of Professor of Hospitality Financial Management and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Schreyer Honors College—a position that included oversight for more than 200 honors courses, academic advising, and career development for 1,800 honors students. Dr. Upneja has spent his career as both a practitioner and teacher of hospitality administration. He earned his B.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Management, his M.B.A., and his Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Houston. He also holds a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Jammu in India. Following six years of hotel management with Mumbai-based Indian Hotels Company Limited, Dr. Upneja spent 17 years sharing and building on that knowledge at Penn State, where he established new interactive honors programming for faculty and students and won numerous awards for his research, including the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award (2007) from the Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education.