Clad in white server’s coats, Sims, Garrison and Williams are part of a six-person wait staff preparing to serve a four-course meal, but the setting isn’t a four-star restaurant. It’s a classroom at the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s College of Technology in Crossett and the guests are administrators and members of the school’s advisory board.
 

  The wait staff is comprised of students, six in all, enrolled in the school’s new hospitality services program. They and their instructor, Jean Alexander, are nervous. The tables are covered in white and set with fine china and polished glasses awaiting the first course; a spicy potato and Cajun sausage soup. Candles glow while soft music plays in the background.
 

  Alexander and her students have been preparing since shortly after 8 a.m. and want everything to be perfect. The meal will include soup, salad, lemon chicken with oriental stir-fry, molded rice and a desert of butter and sour cream pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream.

   “This is the second meal we’ve served this week and I think we’re getting the hang of it,” Alexander said.
 

   Two years ago UAM officials were looking for ways to enhance the academic offerings at the university’s Colleges of Technology in Crossett and McGehee. As they examined the economic trends and needs of the region, one idea kept popping up – hospitality services.
   

  “We were looking at some different ideas for our Colleges of Technology and we kept coming back to the service industry and the growing market for trained professionals in the field of hotel and restaurant management,” said David Ray, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “It turned out to be a perfect fit for our campuses in Crossett and McGehee.”
  

   UAM’s program in hospitality services began this fall with a one-semester certificate of proficiency program. The total program will eventually include four academic options ranging from the certificate of proficiency to a four-year bachelor of applied sciences degree. The program also includes a two-semester technical certificate and a two-year associate of applied sciences degree.
  

   “The offerings run the gamut from providing training in entry-level jobs all the way up to management,” Ray said.
  
   The one-semester certificate of proficiency requires the completion of 12 hours in hospitality, travel and tourism, safety and sanitation, hospitality customer service relations and an introduction to hospitality operations.

   Persons completing the certificate of proficiency will be eligible for entry-level positions.

   The two-semester technical certificate requires an internship and covers training in managing a hotel, motel or bed-and-breakfast.  Persons with a technical certificate could enter the field as desk clerks or in supervisory positions over maintenance or custodial crews.

  The associate of applied sciences degree adds 15 hours of general education course work to the technical certificate training and prepares graduates to manage a restaurant or hotel.

    The bachelor of applied sciences degree offers a core curriculum with additional electives that provide a business background and prepares graduates to enter the field in management positions.

     All of the options, with the exception of the one-semester certificate of proficiency, require the completion of an internship. Internships are available through Aramark Food Services, the Trotter House bed-and-breakfast in Monticello - which the university purchased in 2006 - and other selected hospitality businesses in the area.

     “We’re hoping that eventually the Trotter House will be used successfully as an internship site by students in all levels of the hospitality program,” Ray said. “And we’re working on other internship opportunities at motels and restaurants in the region.”

     UAM currently enrolls 26 students in the hospitality services program at the Crossett and McGehee campuses.

     For more information contact the Office of Academic Affairs at (870) 460-1033.