Abstract
I have been a member of International CHRIE since 1990, but my road to CHRIE (Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education) began a few years before that.
In 1987, I went to a conference at Napier University, United Kingdom, and met Dr. Mike Olsen and Dr. Mike Evans. They were arranging a similar conference in 1989 at Virginia Tech Blacksburg. It sounded interesting, so I attended with a colleague, after my Head of School agreed to fund the trip based on several challenging outcomes. That flight from Washington, D.C., to Roanoke was something that I will always remember. The plane was so small that I thought that I was riding up front with the pilot: a scary moment for an inexperienced traveler. The trip was worth it as the conference opened my eyes to the opportunities that the United States could offer staff, students, and future program development.
This led me to my first CHRIE Conference in Washington, D.C., in 1990 specifically to start looking for international collaborations to widen student internships and exchange programs. Those CHRIE conferences were definitely something special. They offered international networking opportunities for Leeds Metropolitan University and now looking back, they offered lifelong friendships as well. Each annual conference had a specific flavor of the location and the local culture that made it so memorable.
After CHRIE Washington, D.C., Dr. Peter Jones came along and discussed the notion of setting up a European Federation of CHRIE, namely EuroCHRIE. In 1991, EuroCHRIE was born and as you say, “the rest is history.” EuroCHRIE is a mini version of CHRIE, but with a very European focus and flavor. If you are interested and want to look back, then go to www.eurochrie.org/conferences and see where all our conferences have been located since 1992. We went from strength to strength. This led to Asia and Australia splitting from EuroCHRIE to establish APacCHRIE, and for EuroCHRIE to later expand its boundaries to the Middle East and Africa.
Some of my standout moments of being with ICHRIE have included being introduced to Karaoke when the EuroCHRIE team sang and danced “Love train” at one of the social nights; when EuroCHRIE used to run the hotel bar on the Thursday evening of the conference (the risk assessments would definitely not allow that now); being the first native European to be elected ICHRIE President, and then a year later going to New Orleans to receive my honorary doctorate with Fred Mayo and finding that Earth, Wind, and Fire were playing at the Awards dinner. What excitement!!!
Those social occasions may have changed over the years, but what has not changed is the friendship and networks that I have established over those 30 years. My years on the Board, and particularly on the Executive Board, taught me much. Particularly that although the English language is the spoken language of ICHRIE, the interpretation of words, culture, and meanings can be quite different; I have been called out a number of times with colloquialism.
I like to think that I have helped shape both International CHRIE and EuroCHRIE, but appreciate that that the transient nature of the ICHRIE structure means that ideas and policies change quickly; however, as long as we all keep a focus on our members and listen to their needs and requirements, then we should not go wrong. That ICHRIE focus was more than demonstrated when Leeds Met reached out to the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 to ask if they could do anything to help or provide any places for students to study and the same with Virginia Tech in 2007 when they experienced the terrible shootings. As part of the CHRIE family, you feel some affinity with the places and people you know.
When I retired from full time education in 2012, I was asked to take on the role as EuroCHRIE Federation Administrator. I had no hesitation in taking the job as it kept me in touch with the whole Association. It also led me to my new interim role with ICHRIE as Executive Director of Membership and Communication and has allowed me to build further networks. I do not have a University to give my contacts, but that does not matter. It is nice to be part of a younger generation of ICHRIE members and understand what is important to them.
I consider ICHRIE not only to be a family but also a friendship group. Like all families, you can lose touch with each other and occasionally you “fallout’ or have words, but you forgive and forget. As a friendship group, it is easy to make a friend, but it takes time, effort, and mutual understanding to build a real friendship. You reap what you sow and the effort that you put in initially can have long term and diverse rewards. I may sometimes knock social media, but it has allowed me to keep in touch with my ICHRIE “family and friends” in all corners of the world.
COVID has meant that travel is difficult or nearly impossible for most of us, but it has allowed us to be more “international.” We are seeing more non-U.S. members joining the Board as finances are not a determining factor to stand for election. We can meet by Zoom and we can keep in better contact with our members, listen to their concerns and ideas, and prepare and move International CHRIE forward for another 75 years.
For me, it is been an International CHRIE world. Dr. Mahmood Khan asked me for this article. We met when I went to Blacksburg in 1989. I asked Dr. Mike Evans, past Treasurer of CHRIE, who I met in Scotland, to cast his eye over this narrative. Now that’s over 30 years ago and we are still in contact. I have often wondered if that Scottish encounter had not happened, how different the outcomes may have been . . . or was everything just fate?