Take Advantage of Our Hospitality Expertise, Experience, and Industry Connections
The Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration isn’t just a hospitality school: it’s a life experience, backed by Cornell SC Johnson College of Business expertise and Ivy League educational excellence. You bring your creativity, energy, and passion for service; we help you develop the skills, knowledge, and network to succeed in a fulfilling, rewarding career. Learn from expert faculty and industry professionals, in the classroom as well as through practical experience — a proven, premier Cornell program that’s a century in the making.
A Career Limited Only by Your Imagination
When you join the Nolan School, you join the ranks of top hospitality and business professionals across the globe who are leading the industry. You’ll find our alumni are movers and shakers in any industry sector — from real estate to consumer brands to travel — and influential, effective, thoughtful leaders who inspire and innovate. At the Nolan School, you’ll gain the business foundation, skill sets, and powerful connections to flourish in the industry of your choice — and join the ranks of our amazing alumni.
Not only cutting-edge researchers, our faculty are also experienced industry practitioners and many have more than a decade of experience in industries as diverse as, including hospitality management in finance, real estate, travel, consumer goods, and more. Prestigious as they are, they’re also caring mentors who welcome your participation in their research projects, and your success is their first priority.
At the Nolan School, we’ve developed an exceptional educational experience that prepares you for career success. From outstanding instruction and hands-on practice to an Ivy League pedigree and the mighty Cornell network, a degree from the Nolan School offers many advantages that translate to outstanding career outcomes as well as sustainable career success for our graduates. Here are a few advantages we’re proud to call our own.
1: Our Business is Hospitality
At the Nolan School, you’re not limited to the “hospitality industry” in its traditional, narrow definition. Our students develop strong business acumen, enhanced by our shared passion for hospitality. That’s why our alumni are visionaries who push the boundaries of service excellence in a myriad of industries throughout the global economy.
2: Real Estate Is a Foundation
The cornerstone of a Nolan School education is real estate. Our students graduate with a robust real estate foundation that prepares them for the financial and transactional side of hospitality.
3: Strategy Is Informed by Data
The proliferation of valuable data is driving demand for more curated, personalized experiences that are reshaping revenue models and business strategies. At the Nolan School, you’ll study digital analytics and revenue management to ensure your insights are informed by the best, most relevant data and your strategic decisions truly benefit your organization’s bottom line.
4: Innovation Is a Given
Our program fuses finance, technology, and entrepreneurship with coursework such as FARE, Innovation & Corporate Renewal, and Business Model Innovation & Design to develop your knowledge and sharpen your skills. At the Nolan School, we help you harness your creativity and energy to power your vision.
Our alumni come from all walks of life, and you’ll find them all over the world, succeeding in every conceivable industry. Diverse as they are, they’re united by their commitment to providing service excellence and their fierce devotion to each other. That’s the tight-knit, challenging but supportive Hotelie community in which you’ll learn and thrive.
At the Nolan School, you’ll live and breathe hospitality, applying what you’ve learned in the classroom to real-life settings that challenge you to provide superlative service to paying guests. You’ll work amongst seasoned hospitality professionals and gain unparalleled hands-on experience daily.
Together with other Nolan School students, you’ll plan and operate a themed three-day industry conference with speakers, entertainment, and food and beverage service. This premier learning program, now in its 97th year, challenges your marketing, IT, sales, and problem-solving skills.
Learn from hospitality luminaries and innovators who share their insights on the latest trends in the industry. This program has brought premier thought leaders to campus for nearly a century to inspire and inform.
In this invaluable work-study program, you put your leadership learning to the test on the job at Cornell’s Statler Hotel. You’ll progress through a series of paid positions with increasing responsibility and certifications.
Get to work in our student-run restaurant, which provides superb on-the-job training in everything from personnel management and instruction to customer relations. You’ll develop the menu, manage operations in the kitchen and front of house, and provide excellent service to the Cornell community and general public.
Learn from the best in this alliance between two world-class schools. Studies at The Culinary Institute of America provide an invaluable opportunity to deepen your culinary knowledge and skills through intensive hands-on course work towards a CIA degree, networking with students in other food-related fields, exposure to world cuisines and cooking methods, and practical application of your new-found culinary abilities.
Broaden your horizons and create international career opportunities by studying abroad. Students can study in more than 40 countries and enroll in more than 150 programs and universities around the world. Students can study in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, or New Zealand.
Consistently rated as a top place to study, live, and work for young professionals and families, Ithaca is a welcoming community that offers everything from sparkling lakes and stunning gorges to wineries and unparalleled fine dining. Whether you’re in the mood for farmer’s markets, live drama, artisanal handmade children’s toys, or the world’s best ice cream, you’ll find it in Ithaca.
The Nolan School’s centers and institutes give students a variety of opportunities to put their learning into practice and stay actively engaged in industry issues. Are you interested in attending industry conferences and networking with hospitality leaders, participating in an international real estate case competition, or pitching your original business concept to seasoned entrepreneurs? Our centers and institutes offer all that and more
Created specifically to produce and disseminate research supporting hospitality and related industries, the Center for Hospitality Research brings together researchers, students, and practitioners to generate provocative, relevant applied research that explores critical issues in hospitality today.
The foremost resource for practitioners, researchers, and students of real estate, the Center for Real Estate and Finance brings together prestigious faculty and top practitioners to generate and share cutting-edge research and knowledge in the business of real estate.
Bringing together leading industry experts and faculty to provide students with unmatched learning experiences for entrepreneurship, the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship provides a wide range of courses, programs, and activities to prepare young professionals for careers in entrepreneurship.
Dedicated to modern industry labor and management relations and human resources management, CIHLER is a hub for academic and industry resources for research, education, and dialogue. The Center sponsors research, classroom curricula, and industry roundtables. Additionally, it acts as a forum for the most recent analysis of labor and employment law by industry experts and practitioners.
The first academic center in the US to combine hospitality, environmental design, and health policy and management into a broad-based platform for the improvement of service in healthcare, wellness, and senior living, CIHF develops and supports multidisciplinary educational programs, sponsors and disseminates research, and hosts conferences and projects.
A premier hospitality education and the best preparation for your career in hospitality — that’s what the Nolan School offers. The unmatched business expertise of the SC Johnson Cornell College of Business, the Ivy League pedigree of Cornell, and the welcoming Hotelie community — it all adds up to an unmatched student experience. Start your experience today.