For Immediate Release: Jan. 27, 2009
Contact: Lisa McPheron
Director of Communications and External Relations
The Collins College of Hospitality Management
(909) 869-3151, lcmcpheron@csupomona.edu
Collins1008
CSU Trustees Honor Carol & Jim Collins
LONG BEACH, Calif. — The California State University Board of Trustees and Chancellor Charles Reed honored Carol and Jim Collins on Jan. 27 for their recent $5.25 million pledge and their many years supporting The Collins College of Hospitality Management.
Reed and President Michael Ortiz each expressed their gratitude, and the trustees unanimously passed a resolution of appreciation to Carol and Jim Collins. This prompted the crowd of at least 75 people at the trustees’ meeting in Long Beach to give the couple a standing ovation.
“Jim and Carol, it is a great honor to have you as our partners in the development of workforce-ready graduates for the hospitality industry,” Reed said. “Many of you may know that Jim started with a little hamburger stand and built an international hospitality conglomerate. He has helped The Collins College have the same trajectory of success and it has become one of the top programs in the country. We are indebted to you for the vision and support that made that possible.”
Carol and Jim Collins are the largest private individual donors in the history of Cal Poly Pomona. Most recently in December they pledged to match dollar-for-dollar $5 million in donations for a new $10 million academic building.
"These are two people who are just as passionate about education as anyone in this room,” Ortiz said during the trustees’ meeting. “Carol and Jim’s friendship with Cal Poly Pomona started as the university began an emphasis in hotel, restaurant and travel in our College of Business Administration. They believed, and still do today, in the importance of preparing future generations of hospitality industry professionals.”
For more than 20 years, Carol and Jim Collins’ contributions have been used primarily to help build state-of-the-art facilities for the hospitality management college. These facilities have given the college the ability to flourish and become one of the nation’s leading hospitality management programs, according to Collins College Dean Andy Feinstein.
The new academic building will employ green building design and lay the foundation for expanded programs at The Collins College, which has seen a 46% growth in enrollment in only three years. Future graduates are well positioned to fill the hospitality industry’s call for more skilled professionals. The Collins College is also developing the state’s first graduate program in hospitality management, reinforcing its forward-thinking reputation in the industry.
As a way of implementing Cal Poly Pomona’s polytechnic approach, graduate students under the direction of architecture Professor Kip Dickson are participating in the design of the 20,000-square-foot building.
Founded in 1973, The Collins College of Hospitality Management is the first and largest four-year hospitality management degree program in California and the only hospitality management college on the West Coast. More than 1,000 undergraduate students receive a superior education in the state-of-the-art Collins College facilities, where they learn to apply hospitality management theories and concepts to real-world settings. Part of this unique academic experience includes managing and operating the full-service Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch.
Resolution of Appreciation
to
Carol and James A. Collins
Whereas, the California State University recognizes that its ability to maintain its excellence and service to the people of California is greatly enhanced by the generosity of private supporters; and
Whereas, Carol and James A. Collins have long been actively committed to advancing hospitality management education at Cal Poly Pomona; and
Whereas, for their accomplishments, contributions and engagement with the University, the program bears their name as The Collins College of Hospitality Management; and
Whereas, Mr. and Mrs. Collins have become the largest private individual donors in the history of Cal Poly Pomona; and
Whereas, their legacy of contributions elevated The Collins College into a national leader in the preparation of current and future generations of leaders in the hospitality industry; and
Whereas, through a recent gift of $5.25 million, the couple will launch a campaign to support new educational facilities for The Collins College, dedicating those resources to match support from other friends in the community and the hospitality industry; and
Whereas, it is right and proper for the California State University to recognize and acknowledge this generous gift and the lasting impact it will have on Cal Poly Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management, the community it serves, and generations of students and faculty to come; now therefore be it;
Resolved, that the California State University Board of Trustees commends Carol and James A. Collins for their dedication to and support of Cal Poly Pomona, gratefully acknowledges their generosity, and applauds the legacy they will leave in the form of The Collins College of Hospitality Management.
(From left) Chancellor Charles Reed, President Michael Ortiz, Jim and Carol Collins and Jeffery Bleich, Chair of the CSU Board of Trustees.
Reed presents the resolution of appreciation to Carol and Jim Collins.
Dean Andy Feinstein, Jim Collins and President Ortiz on Jan. 27, 2009 at the CSU headquarters in Long Beach.