Finding her place in hospitality
Global experiences and hands-on learning launched Elizabeth Robertson career in conference management
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The path for Elizabeth Robertson ’25 in hospitality management began in an unlikely place: a marine biology lab in Florida.
A professor saw in Robertson a student with equal parts scientific curiosity and people skills and encouraged her to find a career where both could work together. That observation prompted her to explore careers that combined analytical thinking with human connection.
She found her answer in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Arch H. Aplin III ’80 Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism,
“I remember sitting in my foundations of recreation, parks and tourism class and thinking, this is totally what I’m wired for,” Robertson said.
Building a global perspective
Robertson grew up watching tourism shape the communities around her, spending part of her childhood in Tamil Nadu, India, where her father worked for a travel magazine. That early exposure to how travel connects people and places dovetailed with her studies in event, tourism and recreation, and management.
At Texas A&M University, she found ways to bring her curiosity and creativity to life outside the classroom by co-leading Desi Aggies and helping continue the group’s popular “Time for Chai” gatherings, which attracted hundreds of students every other Friday.
She also revived the university’s student chapter of the National Association for Catering and Events in conjunction with Professional Convention Management Association, serving as president. Robertson was one of the Aplin Department of Hospitality’s first student ambassadors, helping shape the department’s recruiting presence on campus.
In the classroom, professors James Petrick, Ph.D., Research Fellow and graduate program chair and International Academy for the Study of Tourism Fellow, and Jenna Kurten ’00 ’14 ’19, Ph.D., challenged Robertson’s perspective on what hospitality could look like on a global scale. Kurten, now the college’s assistant dean helped broaden that perspective through her teaching and mentorship. Together, they encouraged Robertson to see hospitality as a field with opportunities that extend far beyond traditional boundaries.
A 10-day study abroad program in Fiji made abstract conversations concrete, immersing her in the relationship between sustainable tourism, local communities and marine ecosystems, a world not entirely unlike the one she had left behind in Florida.
Robertson’s capstone project organizing the department’s annual recognition and scholarship banquet pulled it all together for her. She coordinated faculty, staff and event logistics from start to finish getting her first real l ook at what a career in this field could look like.
Turning classroom lessons into a career
Robertson applied those skills during an internship at The Gage Hotel near Big Bend National Park, where she worked on luxury weddings and specialty events.
Today, she serves as an assistant project manager with Conference Management Services, Inc. in Bryan-College Station, planning large technical and academic conferences for engineers and scientists around the world. Her responsibilities span marketing, website management and event logistics.
The work requires her to “wear a lot of different hats,” Robertson said. She works with conference committees and professors to help with registration websites and marketing.
Transform your future
Find where hospitality can take you. Explore the Arch H. Aplin III ’80 Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism’s programs and discover where your interests can lead.
She said one of the most rewarding parts is serving as a bridge between event professionals and technical experts, often helping people navigate aspects of a conference that fall outside their usual areas of expertise.
For Robertson, the work ultimately comes back to people.
“We have to remember the person behind our client,” she said. “It’s not just this person who’s signing off on budgets. We need to consider, who are they? How are we serving them?”
Find where you fit in hospitality
For Robertson, landing in a conference room full of engineers makes more sense than it might seem on first impression. The thread running through her academic path and professional career so far is the same one that drew her to hospitality in the first place – be curious about how people connect across disciplines, cultures and industries.
Rather than following a rigid career plan, Robertson encourages students to explore the wide range of opportunities hospitality offers.
“I think you don’t have to walk in knowing exactly what you want to do,” she said. “There’s an incredible opportunity in the department to refine your focus and your direction but also build a tool belt of skills that will help you in your career.”
