Robert Small, Ph.D
Professor
Office: 79A-1134A
Email: rwsmall@csupomona.edu
Phone: (909) 869-2266
Fax: (909) 869-4329
Dr. Robert Small is a professor at the Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Dr. Small served as the head of the Hospitality Management Program from 1987 until 1994 and became the founding Dean when the Program achieved independent School status in 1991. Dr. Small returned to the faculty from 1995 until June, 2004 when he was reappointed as dean. Dr. Small taught courses on food and beverage management and wines, spirits, and beers. Dr. Small was instrumental in the growth of the hospitality program at Cal Poly, particularly in program design, curriculum development, fund raising, and design of the James and Carol Collins Center for Hospitality Management. He continues to be an active participant in the Harvest Auction that benefits the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, which he established in 1994. Harvest Auction has become one of the largest benefit auctions in Southern California.
Prior to joining the faculty in 1979, Dr. Small had 10 years of industry experience. He holds a B.A. from the Hotel and Restaurant Management School at Michigan State University and an M.B.A and Ph.D. in Business Administration from The Claremont Graduate School, as well as a certificate from Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Dr. Small is a member of the California Restaurant Association and was an elected Member of its Board of Directors from 1995-2004. In 1996 he was appointed Chairman of the Education Committee and sat on the Executive Committee. He was elected as a Trustee of the California Restaurant Association Educational Foundation in 1996 and was subsequently elected Vice-Chair in 1997 and Chairman in 1998. He has also been a member of the National Restaurant Association. He has served as a Board Member for the International Council of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Educators and was Chairman of their 1994 International Conference.
In 1997 Dr. Small was elected to serve as Chairman of the 1998 Los Angeles County Fair Wine Competition, the oldest and largest wine competition in the country. He has served as chairman since that time, expanding both the participation in the competition and educational programs provided during the Los Angeles County Fair. In 2000 an International Olive Oil Competition was created, which is also the largest competition of its kind in the U.S. He is a respected wine judge, judging at several highly regarded competitions nationwide. He is also an active member of the Society of Wine Educators.
In 1999 he started a business, Dr. Bob’s HandCrafted IceCreams, which currently manufactures and distributes super-premium ice creams to restaurants, clubs, and hotels in Southern California and to over 150 retail stores throughout the state of California and nationwide. Dr. Bob’s also licenses a single retail store and ships gift ice cream packs throughout the country. Dr. Bob’s was recently highlighted on the Food Finds program on the Food Channel and has been positively reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Weekly, Sunset Magazine, Bon Appetite, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Examiner, Chocolatier Magazine, and KCBS radio in New York and San Francisco as well as several local Southern California publications.
Dr. Small has lived in Claremont, California, for 30 years with his wife, Michelle, who recently retired as the Director of Publications and Student Recruitment at Citrus College in Glendora, California. They have two grown sons living in Northern California.
Dr. Bob Small
Professor