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The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration is the school of hospitality management studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Named after William F. Harrah, the founder of Harrah's Entertainment, the school is highly ranked in surveys of hotel and hospitality colleges.
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The College helped found and organizes UNLVino, a world known wine tasting event which acts as a fundraiser for the College of Hotel Administration. UNLVino has run annually since 1974.
The College of Hotel Administration takes advantage of its location 1.5 miles from the Las Vegas strip. With more than 125,000 hotel rooms and hundreds of restaurants, conventions and trade shows, Las Vegas serves as a laboratory for the college's program.
The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration has one international campus in Singapore. Opened in 2006, the UNLV Singapore campus is housed on the 10th and 11th floors of the National Library of Singapore. The campus offers bachelor's degree programs in hotel administration and hospitality management. UNLV Singapore offers the college’s upper division courses, including Hotel Administration, Hospitality Marketing, Food and Beverage Management and Hotel Law. Students may also earn an executive master's degree in hospitality.
History
UNLV's hotel management program began in 1967, when the school was still called Nevada Southern University. By 1969, the program had become the College of Hotel Administration. The school was named after William F. Harrah in 1989, after a $5 million gift from his widow. A larger pledge followed in 2007, when the Harrah's Foundation promised $30 million (the largest bequest in UNLV's history) toward construction of a new building and research and related activities. The program has also benefitted from other large contributions from gaming and casino businesses.
The satellite program in Singapore was established in 2006. In 2013 it was reported that the program, intended to be a self-funding venture in collaboration with Singapore Institute of Technology, might close down after 2015, due to concerns about the long-term fiscal viability of the program as structured. The school has stated that it may relocate its Asian campus to Macau.
The long-delayed new building received new impetus during 2013–14, as the university restarted the design phase of the project.