Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management have announced a groundbreaking Alliance focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
This initiative is part of an ongoing commitment to address gaps in underrepresentation and inequity across the hospitality industry, the organizations say. The Alliance aims to create a range of opportunities including educational programming, academic research, recruiting, mentoring, career pathing, scholarships, employee training/micro-credentialing and other partnerships.
The Alliance includes the first-ever DEI-Endowed Faculty Chair at FIU — of which Southern Glazer’s was the charter supporter. In July, the FIU Chaplin School announced it had appointed Brian Barker as the school’s new endowed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Professor. In this role, Barker focuses on DEI curriculum content development, expansion of a mentoring program, establishing Chaplin School as a research center and resource for DEI in the hospitality industry, and building and leading a multi-institutional alliance to address equity gaps and create a pathway to leadership for Black, Hispanic, women and other underrepresented talent in hospitality management.
“We hope this Alliance becomes a model for hospitality education as we look to build and inspire the next generation of diverse and inclusive leaders in our industry,” says Wayne E. Chaplin, Chief Executive Officer, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. “We invite all members of the hospitality community to join us in reshaping the future and driving real progress across the entire hospitality ecosystem.”
To learn more about the multi-institutional alliance or to support it, e-mail Brian Barker at bbarker@fiu.edu for details.
