Rutherford Receives Hospitality Award

PULLMAN, Wash. — Denney Rutherford, professor in the Hotel and
Restaurant Administration Program at Washington State University, in July
will receive an award recognizing his lifetime contributions to scholarship and
research in hospitality and tourism.

The 2000 John Wiley and Sons Research Award will be presented to
Rutherford in New Orleans at the annual convention of the International
Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education. Rutherford is the
10th person to receive the award since it began in 1991.

According to a CHRIE spokesperson, the award serves as a tribute to a
distinguished individual who has demonstrated high standards in the
systematic and objective analysis of data that has led to the development of
principles or theories resulting in significant contributions to the body of
knowledge. Recipients of the award must also have demonstrated leadership in
a specialized field of study.

“It is a great honor and recognizes the supportive atmosphere of our entire
team at WSU,” says Rutherford. “Anything I have been able to accomplish
would not have been possible without the great support and encouragement
of our HRA team members.”

“We are extremely excited for Professor Rutherford,” says W. Terry Umbreit,
WSU HRA director. “He is one of the leading scholars in the field who has
contributed a great deal to literature regarding hospitality.”

Rutherford has recently been ranked as the 10th most prolific author in
mainstream hospitality research journals and his work placed 25th in a recent
citation analysis. He is the Ivar B. Haglund Distinguished Professor in Hotel
and Restaurant Administration at WSU; and in the College of Business and
Economics, he is charged with being WSU HRA’s leading scholar.

Rutherford’s current research and teaching interests are in the area of the legal
aspects of hospitality operations, as well as understanding the management
characteristics of major hotel departments including housekeeping,
engineering and front office. Some of his most recent publications cover such
diverse topics as law, employee interactions, security, contracts, conventions
and meetings, and hotel operations.

A Pullman native who earned his bachelor’s degree at WSU and his master’s
and doctoral degrees from the University of Washington, he began his
academic career in September 1970. He taught at the WSU Seattle Center for
Hotel and Restaurant Administration from 1979-93, when he returned to the
Pullman campus. He became a full professor in 1992.

Before entering academia, he spent several years gaining firsthand experience
in hotel, beverage, lodging, group sales, and restaurant management. One
assignment allowed him to seek grant funding to develop a program to train
disabled workers in marketable food service skills.

CHRIE is the international association of educators, professionals and
corporations that promotes hospitality and tourism through education. The
organization has 1,200 members in 53 countries worldwide.

WSU HRA is consistently rated in the top five percent of the 170 similar
programs in the nation – the next nearest of which is at least 1,000 miles away.
Hospitality majors can study in Pullman and in Brig, Switzerland. Students
average nearly four job offers each upon graduation. Hospitality is also one of
the options in which WSU MBA students can concentrate.

bsm110-00

Next Story

Colombian women’s rights pioneer got her start in Pullman

Paulina Gómez Vega’s experience at Washington State College in the early 1920s set her on a path that made her an education leader and an influential voice for women’s rights back home.

Recent News

Provost finalists visiting the week of April 1

Finalists in the process of interviewing for the position of provost and executive vice president will present to the public during their visits to WSU next week.

McCoy named interim WSU athletic director

A widely recognized leader in intercollegiate athletics, McCoy will serve while a national search is conducted for the next athletic director.

WSU to review administrative structure

President Kirk Schulz used his annual State of the University Address to highlight both achievements and challenges while also announcing a planned review of WSU’s administrative structure and academic programs.