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Black Meetings & Tourism December 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 28 W ith a shrinking pool of high school graduates nationwide and population shifts to America's South and Southwest, Temple University's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) in Philadelphia is adapting to demographic changes that will likely increase the chal- lenges of recruitment – but may also present opportu- nities. Michael Usino, STHM's associate director of recruitment, said the school is beginning to reallocate resources to focus more on distance recruitment as opposed to one-on- one meetings with prospective stu- dents. Although Usino said personal visits are never going to go away, he said there are likely to be more e- mail blasts, online advertisements and Facebook chats designed to attract students. "I think that with the cost going up, we can find more effective ways of recruitment," Usino said. "Even as we pay more, the tools that we're using because it's distanced will be more effective in actually recruiting the students." According a 2008 report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the number of high school graduates peaked at 3.33 million in 2008-09. The report said Black and Hispanic students consti- tuted 20 percent of students in four-year colleges in 2005, even though they made up 32 percent of the national college-aged population. The report also said colleges and universities spent, on average, $578 to recruit each applicant for Fall 2007 and $2,366 to recruit each enrolled student. Usino said the cost of recruit- ment could increase 10 percent to 15 percent in coming years. "Instead of just waiting for them [high school stu- dents] to apply and then going after them, we have to sell them before they even apply, which means fresh- man and sophomores are who we're trying to target right now as opposed to just the early high school sen- ior in September," Usino said. With population increases in the South and Southwest, Usino said STHM identified high schools in those regions that teach elective hospitality or sports marketing classes, for example, and sent those schools information about Temple so that the university "will be a familiar brand where it hasn't usually been in the past." An ongoing recruitment challenge, Usino said, is attracting a student body that is diverse in a variety of ways – including geographic area, age, gender and ethnicity. "We're looking at every dimension of diversity. Absolutely," Usino said. "But there is, of course, a need for talented man- agers of color in the industry, [which is] an initiative echoed by diversity recruitment at hotels and sports teams." The current STHM student applied to seven institutions on average and is unlikely to be a first-generation col- lege enrollee. About 35 percent of new STHM students identify them- selves as students of color. Usino said diversity has "always been a selling point about the university, and that's definitely something that we've been trying to capitalize on here as a reason to choose these programs." For Alison Ray, an African-American STHM sopho- more from Exton, Pa., who is pursuing a career in event management, Temple is preparing her to interact with the wide range of people who are employed by – and utilize – the hospitality industry. "It's nice to be able to have the ability to deal with different people and their backgrounds, and learn more, so you'll be able to see that when you go out in the industry," she said. For more information on Temple University's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, visit www.sthm.tem-ple.edu. With a Focus On DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION TEMPLE UNIVERSITY ADAPTS TO RECRUITING CHALLENGES "Instead of just waiting for them [high school students] to apply and then going after them, we have to sell them before they even apply, which means freshman and sopho- mores are who we're trying to target right now as opposed to just the early high school senior in September,"