Being sustainable isn’t just about recycling. The 2017-18 Public Affairs Conference explores how sustainability is relevant to every part of life. Dr. Daniel Crafts has been researching and teaching this for years.

Sharing knowledge

Crafts, associate professor of hospitality leadership, recently presented at the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE) summer conference.

He presented “Developing the new generation of facility managers focusing on green and sustainable issues in the hospitality industry” in Baltimore, Maryland, July 26-28.

What that means

Essentially, Crafts is trying to figure out ways to teach sustainability to students in a hospitality setting, like hotels. Once their imaginations are sparked, they can come up with innovative ways to be sustainable.

Crafts has a simple, yet effective, approach: research. As a group, a class recognizes what resources are being used and how they are being used. After that, students look at the impact of the resource: what does the resource pertain to in the hospitality industry? How does it affect guest experience? How does it affect management experience?

It is up to groups to present their findings, both in class and during the CNAS Research Day in the spring. This allows students to see the evolution of the resource and where the industry should go with it in the future.

Students are able to look at complex sustainability problems and help them work toward being better green leaders. This project also allows for extensive networking in the community, something Crafts himself enjoys.