Cornell University School of Hotel Administration

The Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, also known as the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, is a specialized business school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1922 at the request of leading hoteliers and the American Hotel Association, it launched the world’s first undergraduate hospitality management degree program with 21 students and a single professor, Howard B. Meek. Over the following century it expanded into a full-spectrum academic unit offering programs from a bachelor’s degree through a doctorate, and in 2022, its centennial year, CEO World Magazine ranked it number one in the world for hospitality education.

Key facts

Country: United States
Founded: 1922
Type: business school
Parent organisation: Cornell University
Website: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/

Origins and early development

The school did not begin as an independent institution. It started as a department inside the School of Home Economics of the New York State College of Agriculture, operating in that arrangement for decades before formally becoming the School of Hotel Administration in 1950 and separating into a fully independent academic unit in 1954.

Financial survival in the early years depended heavily on winning over skeptics. Ellsworth M. Statler, the self-made hotel magnate who would become the school’s most consequential early benefactor, was not initially sympathetic to the idea of university-trained hoteliers. His position changed at the second Hotel Ezra Cornell conference in 1927, after which he and his wife Alice Statler committed to the school’s future. Before Statler’s death in 1928, the couple donated a total of more than $10 million, providing the financial foundation on which much of the school’s physical and academic infrastructure was built.

Academic programs

The bachelor’s degree program requires a minimum of 120 classroom credits alongside a minimum of 800 hours of work in the field. The undergraduate core spans 18 courses covering organizational behavior, accounting, microeconomics, food service management, strategic management, human resources, technology, real estate, and business communications.

In 1973, the school launched the hospitality industry’s first master’s degree program, designed to give senior managers the knowledge and skills required for an increasingly global industry. Graduate degree offerings now include the Master of Management in Hospitality (MMH), an Executive Master of Management in Hospitality, a Cornell-Peking University dual MMH/MBA, a Master of Science in Hotel Administration, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Hotel Administration.

On February 4, 2015, the school launched a free massive open online course titled Introduction to Global Hospitality Management on edX.org. More than 13,000 students enrolled in the six-week course, which was led by four School of Hotel Administration faculty members.

Facilities

Statler Hall has been the school’s home since 1950. The building contains the 700-seat Alice Statler Auditorium, food and beverage management labs, the Marriott Student Learning Center, and the Chartres Lodging capital markets trading room.

The Statler Hotel on campus is a 153-room full-service property and the only teaching hotel in the Ivy League. It is also Ithaca’s only AAA Four Diamond award-winning hotel. The current building opened in March 1989, replacing the original Statler Inn. Each academic year, more than 200 students work alongside seasoned professionals across all hotel and restaurant operations, taking on front-line and supervisory positions.

Leadership and recent milestones

In 2026, Ceridwyn King was appointed Dimond Family Dean of the Nolan School of Hotel Administration.

The school’s centennial in 2022 was marked by a yearlong series of events. The same year, CEO World Magazine placed it first in the world for hospitality education, capping a hundred years that took the program from a single professor and 21 students to a globally recognized institution.

Did you know

Ellsworth M. Statler, who became the school’s most important early benefactor, was initially convinced that university training for hoteliers was worthless. After attending the second Hotel Ezra Cornell conference in 1927, he reportedly declared: “I’m converted. Meek can have any damn thing he wants.” (sha.cornell.edu)
The School of Hotel Administration offered the first accredited wine appreciation course in American collegiate history. New York and California vintners visited campus to deliver lectures directly to juniors and seniors. (sha.cornell.edu)
When the American Hotel Association first proposed a teaching hotel adjacent to the Cornell campus in 1923, the plan called for a 200-room property. The Great Depression and World War II forced repeated delays and cutbacks; the facility that finally opened in 1950 was a scaled-down 36-room inn. (sha.cornell.edu)
The Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series, known informally as “Hotelie Friday,” has run as a Friday afternoon tradition for over 100 years, bringing hospitality operations, food and beverage, and real estate executives to speak directly with students. (courses.cornell.edu)

Data sources

Data updated: 2026-10-28