JOUR 271 in Farley Hall-Fall 2013: Ole Miss Ambassadors for Southern Hospitality

Photo by Randall Haley

Student organization could lead to better job outlooks

By Randall Haley

Ole Miss Ambassadors for Southern Hospitality, OMASH, has given hospitality management students experience outside of the classroom.

According to the Nutrition and Hospitality Management website, OMASH was formed in 2007 to “provide students with industry knowledge, enriching experiences, and abundant networking opportunities while actively involved in giving back to the community.”

Dr. Jeremy Roberts, faculty advisor, said, “They give students who are majoring in hospitality management a voice in the department. They help plan events, they work on our large fundraisers we have, and they go on tours.”

Dr. Kathy B. Knight, Interim Department Chair and Associate Professor of Nutrition and Hospitality Management, said, “In hospitality, employers look, not just at academics, but they look at work experience.”

“Employers want to know what kind of events you have worked,” Knight said. “OMASH helps our students get different kind of experiences that they couldn’t get in the classroom.”

No statistics have yet been provided to show how OMASH affects the job outlook for students involved.

“One of our former presidents got a job where he is the general manager of a restaurant and their whole tourism facility,” Roberts said. “Several of our other students work in hotels, and OMASH helped them learn the ins and outs.”

Jacqueline Stout, junior hospitality major and CEO of OMASH, said, “One of our focuses this semester included tourism. We visited the Oxford Tourism center in which we learned about the tourism industry and the ways tourism exists here in Oxford.”

Stout said, “The sole purpose of OMASH is for students in or outside of the hospitality major to gain more knowledge and experience in the particular sub-industries of the hospitality field.”

Although OMASH is largely consisted of hospitality management majors, all students of the University of Mississippi are welcome to join.

“I encourage others to get involved because OMASH is unlike any other organization in that it completely caters to its members,” Stout said.

Dr. Jeremy Roberts