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7Eurochrie hospitality conference (continued from page 2)Participants heard from key note speakers, including Ms.Pave Zupan Ruskovic, former Minister of Tourism inCroatia, who shared a fascinating presentation about thedevelopment of tourism in the City of Dubrovnik sinceMiddle Ages, and talked about the challenges the country iscurrently facing.Ms Ginny Clark, Vice-President of Constellation Brands,shared the success story of the world’s largest wineproducer, while Mr. Ivica Vrančić, director of the CroatianVerantius HR firm, discussed the challenges of hiring theright people, and keeping employees motivated on the job,especially younger generations like ACMT students whoare just starting their professional careers.While participants enjoyed presentations, lectures,networking and sightseeing around the beautifulDubrovnik region, ACMT students were busy behind thescenes making the whole event happen.As part of the Assessment of Service Quality coursetaught by Prof. Milena Kuznin, more than 30 RIT andACMT students got hands-on experience in professionalevent planning, from start to finish.“One of our objectives was to see how well the studentsfunction in a multi-cultural and cross disciplinary team. Wehad Study Abroad students from RIT working togetherwith the ACMT students, as well as students from the ITprogram working together with the students from theIHSM program. Did they work well? More than well,” Prof.Kužnin said. “The students received nothing but praises fortheir wonderful work.”“Our second goal was to provide the guests withexceptional service. Even if it meant pouring coffees duringthe break, the service was delivered with a big smile!”"Participating in the organization the conference was agreat experience,” said ACMT Dubrovnik junior studentIvana Raguž.“It gave me an opportunity to work in my futureprofession and apply some of the concepts I learned in myclasses. Watching the conference participants, I had thefeeling I was looking at my future.“Being a student volunteer at the conference was a greatway to further educate myself. Listening to presentations Iheard a variety of experts from around the world whoshared many of their experiences,” said studentDimitri Rajko.“This networking was extremely important formy personal and career development.”Fun in Dubrovnik (continued from page 4)Photo from sportnet.hrBut it's not all about nightlife. Students find time to keep inshape and relax with sports too. Freshman Antonio Oštrićplays power forward for Dubrovnik basketball team. ¨It´sgood to play sports in college,“ he said. “It helps keep mehealthy and helps me relax after studying. It´s hard to doboth, so college is on first place and basketball on second“.For those who would rather watch than compete,Dubrovnik's famous waterpolo team, JUG, competesregularly at the recently renovated Olympic sized pool inGruž. Well-known throughout Europe, JUG's mostimpressive win was in 2006, with the European Supercup.Dubrovnik´s own Maro Joković, has played in the 2008Olympics, in Bejing, and will be playing again this summer inLondon. Personally, I wasn´t a fan of waterpolo until I wentto my first game. Then I was hooked! I will alwaysremember the way the pool stadium, music blasting to hypeup the fans, and feeling the passion of every local patriot inthe room as they cheered for the team.Who says that students in big cities are the only ones whocan have a little fun? If we start taking advantage of theopportunities, we can easily show how the students ofACMT Dubrovnik know how to pump up the party!

8FACULTY SCHOLARSHIPResearch, publications, and accomplishmentsof ACMT professorsProfessor Vanda Bazdan has been elected to the educational titleof Lecturer in history of philosophy.Professor Mara Dekovic Kesovija has been elected to theeducational title of Lecturer in philology and Romance languages.Professor Robert Foley was awarded the Excellence inImprovement and Innovation award by the Shared Services andOutsourcing Network organization for a paper he co-authored on atraining program for the United States Postal Service.Among the many international professionals at the annual EUROChrieconference, ACMT and RIT professors also presented the results of theiroriginal scientific research to their colleagues, in fields from foreign languageeducation to hospitality. In addition to the 30 minute presentations, formalscientific papers were published in the official conference proceedings.Prof. Rebecca Charry presented her research on methods of Englishlanguage instruction in Croatian high schools, in a paper titled,“Communicative Language Teaching in Croatian English Classrooms.”Profs. Milena Kužnin and Besim Agušaj presented their research onthe impact of ACMT graduates on hospitality employment in Croatia, in apaper titled, “The Impact of an International Institution on Hospitality andTourism in a Transitional Economy.”Profs. Nikolina Božinović, Zrinka Friganović Sain and BarbaraPerić presented “Students’ Perceptions on the Importance of ForeignLanguages for Careers in Tourism.”Profs. Mara Deković Kesovija and Mario Matković presented “FrontDesk Foreign Language Proficiency in Dubrovnik 5-Star Hotels.”In addition, many RIT professors who have taught at ACMT over the yearsalso participated in the conference and presented their research.Prof. Edward Ganster presented research on “The Academic Habits ofAmerican and Balkan College Students: A Faculty Perspective.”Prof. Richard M. Lagiewski presented “The Role of ExportingHospitality and Tourism Education in a Transitional Environment andInternationalization.”Profs. Elizabeth Kmiecinski, Barbara Cerio Iocco, Richard M.Lagiewski and Carol B. Whitlock presented “Outcomes of Off-SiteCorporate Training and Lessons for Hospitality and Tourism EducationPrograms.”Dr. Jeffrey Lasky, chair of the Information Technology program at RIT,presented a workshop titled, “Toward the Development of TourismInformatics,” in which he discussed opportunities for an increased presenceof computing, such as smart phones, tablets, and social media in hospitalityand tourism degree programs.Prof. Milena KužninProf. Rebecca CharryAmerican College ofManagement and Technologyamerican.college@acmt.hrwww.acmt.hrDUBROVNIK CAMPUSDon Frana Bulica 620000 Dubrovnik, CroatiaPhone +385 20 433 000ZAGREB CAMPUSIlica 24210000 Zagreb, CroatiaPhone +385 (1) 643 9100ACMT NEWSLETTEREditorProf. Rebecca CharryLayoutViktor ZimmermannPrintingTiskara PrizmaFollow us!