Recreation, Park, Tourism, and Hospitality

Recreation, Park, Tourism, and Hospitality Minors

Minors allow students to customize their curriculum and gain hands-on experience in their chosen career fields. Minors appear on students’ transcripts and can be used to make students marketable to future employers. While RPTA majors are able to complete any university-approved minor to complete their degree requirements, they can also complete one of the minors offered within the department. 

Event Planning and Management - Macomb & Quad Cities

This minor is well-suited for students interested in the fields of festivals, events, hospitality, tourism, and recreation programming. Students interested in obtaining careers in a wide variety of settings, such as park districts, convention and visitors bureaus, hotels and resorts, entertainment and sport venues, will benefit greatly from the knowledge and applied experiences gained through this minor.

Hospitality Management - Macomb

This minor prepares students for entry-level employment in management trainee and supervisory positions in hotels, restaurants, public institutions, and private clubs for a wide variety of management, marketing, catering, and retail hospitality positions.

Students gain hands on experience working in almost 6,000 sq ft of professionally equipped space that includes a 54-seat corporate dining room, industrial kitchen, walk-in cooler, and demonstration kitchens.

Nonprofit Administration - Macomb & Quad Cities

This interdisciplinary minor is designed to enable students from a variety of majors to seek meaningful careers in youth and human service nonprofit agencies. Students will gain curricular and hands-on experience working with non-profit administration as they complete this minor.

Students are able to earn an additional credential in nonprofit leadership through the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance in conjunction with the minor. 

 

Outdoor Leadership - Macomb

The Outdoor Leadership minor integrates classroom learning with a field studies experience. The minor supports professional preparation in outdoor leadership through experiential education. Prerequisite planning courses take place on campus and are followed by a required expedition. The field studies experience focuses on principles of outdoor leadership and teaching, wilderness travel and minimum impact camping skills, outdoor adventure recreation, and environmental education and interpretation.

Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration - Macomb, Quad Cities & Online

This minor is not available to RPTA majors. Through this minor, non-RPTA majors are able to gain knowledge and skills needed in the leisure industries that can complement the curricular preparation from their chosen majors.

Youth Leadership - Macomb & Quad Cities

This interdisciplinary minor enables students to develop skills necessary in a broad range of careers in nonprofit youth and human service organizations that assist young people in developing the skills needed to live a quality life. Professionals in these organizations play pivotal roles in making a difference in the lives of others and in their communities.