RMP’s Tourism and Event Management Option Creates Greater Flexibility
Recreation management and policy (RMP) students interested in hospitality and tourism will have an easier time taking advantage of courses offered at UNH through the program’s reorganized tourism and event management option beginning in fall 2025.
This change, which replaces the former program and event management option, is the result of a collaborative effort between the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) and the hospitality management program in the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.
The catalyst for this change was the upcoming retirement of Associate Professor Rob Robertson, the faculty member who maintained the tourism studies program within the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. Rather than let tourism studies disappear from UNH, RMP saw an opportunity to strengthen their existing relationship with hospitality management, according to Lecturer Sean McLaughlin, who oversees the option.
"This is really about embracing the tourism name and starting to build a stronger collaboration with the hospitality management department. Their focus is on food, beverage, and hotel management, while ours is on event planning and recreation program design. It’s a natural partnership,” McLaughlin says. “This is just the first step — I think we’ll see another version of tourism and event management emerge down the road, but for now, we’re beginning to look at the industry more holistically."
The changes address a common challenge: Many RMP students want to take hospitality courses, without necessarily wanting the full business administration curriculum required at Paul College.
Previously, RMP students needed to submit petitions to count hospitality management courses toward their degree. Now, these courses can be integrated as electives without the extra administrative steps.
While the core RMP curriculum remains largely the same, the most significant changes are in electives. The new option allows students to:
Choose either RMP 490 (intro class) or the HMGT intro class
Take HMGT 635 (Leadership in HR Management and Tourism) as a recognized course within the program
Select from a wider range of electives, including HMGT courses like International Food and Culture (HMGT 570)
While the changes primarily benefit RMP students, hospitality management students can also take certain RMP electives, such as festival planning and venue design, to deepen their understanding of event coordination.
McLaughlin hopes these changes will not only better serve current students but also better lay out the many opportunities available to them in RMP.
"The vast majority of our students, like 98 percent, are internal transfers," McLaughlin notes. "They're undeclared, they take one of our classes, and a light goes off. They realize, 'Oh wow, I can do this for a living. I can do something I love in an industry I love.'"
