A $33,000 grant from the Statler Foundation is funding a 10-day trip for 18 hospitality and
tourism students.
Students from a cultural tours class within the hospitality and tourism department will be
flying to Italy on March 23, touring Alba, Florence and Bologna. In celebration of the 10-year
anniversary of Campus House, the trip focus will be on the culinary aspects of the country.
Students will also explore churches, museums and other tourist attractions. They will end their
trip with a cooking class scheduled in Bologna.
Rebecca Dowsey, interim chair of the hospitality and tourism department, said she believes her
students will be transformed by their experiences.
“We are learning some of the customs and the cultural differences,” Dowsey said. “This trip is
going to completely transform their lives, make them more marketable, and when they graduate,
make them more competitive when they look for jobs.”
Director of corporate and foundation relations, Mary Dwyer, worked very closely with Dowsey
in writing and submitting grant proposals to the Statler Foundation.
Dwyer and Dowsey said that the Statler Foundation has been supportive of the hospitality
and tourism department and approved the request for the grant to help students pay for this
international experience.
“We are thrilled that because of the Statler Foundation’s generous gift, Buffalo State students
will have international experience to help broaden their knowledge in the hospitality and
tourism industry,” Dwyer said. “As one of our goals in the Transforming Lives: a campaign for
Buffalo State, we believe that these international learning experiences help develop students’
understanding of other cultures, and foster a world view that helps ensure that our graduates
succeed.”
Dowsey said that Campus House director Kathleen O’Brien contributed to making the trip a
possibility for students and that she deserves a lot of credit for getting them on this trip.
“I am very fortunate to have this experience as a faculty member – to lead, with my colleagues,
a study abroad experience,” O’Brien said. “I have been an advocate of applied learning
as a pedagogy since coming to Buffalo State in 1990, so this fits nicely with my teaching
philosophy.”
Both O’Brien and Dowsey are very grateful for the Statler Foundation. Dowsey said she thinks
the grant is beautiful, and it made it possible to bring all 18 students on the trip, so no one was
left behind. Both O’Brien and Dowsey are very grateful for the Statler Foundation.
“The funding provided by the Statler Foundation has made this possible for our students and is
paving a way for a new generation of Buffalo State students to experience the world,” O’Brien
said.
Other funds come from the student’s gratuity and various fundraisers, as well as from the
students own pockets.
O’Brien said that when the students return from the trip, they will document what they have
learned and turn it into a case study. She said they will then seek to understand the Cultural
Tourism in the context of Italy.
Senior Alex Davis, a major in the hospitality and tourism department, said he is beyond excited
for the adventure.
“Knowing simply that within the month we will be oversees in Italy is a dream come true,”
Davis said. “The cultural experience itself will be everlasting in the development of our
hospitality careers.”
Davis said that all the support from the various organizations and individuals has made this trip
very exciting.
“With the guidance of Dowsey and O’Brien, we will learn to understand the effect tourism has
on an area both positive and negative,” he said.
Davis also said he was happy to be going with friends from the department.
“I have had several classes with most of them and we have all become friends through our
various fundraising efforts,” Davis said. “I wouldn’t choose a different group to travel with;
together we have pushed ourselves to understand the world of tourism.”
Victoria Renodin, a senior in hospitality and tourism, said she is also very excited and that the 10
days are going to be magical.
“We get to spend time with friends and our professors and be in Italy all at the same time,”
Renodin said. “If it were humanly possible I wouldn’t sleep for those 10 days.”
Jasmine Willis can be reached by email at willis.record@live.com.