Howard Feiertag receives Alumni Award for Outreach Excellence
Howard Feiertag, of Blacksburg, coordinator of outreach and a faculty member in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the Pamplin College of Business, received the university’s 2004 Alumni Award for Outreach Excellence.
The award recognizes an employee who has developed and implemented an outstanding focused and coherent outreach program within the community at large, state, and/or the nation. The Commission on Outreach designates the members of the selection committee.
Before coming to Virginia Tech in 1989, Feiertag was in the hospitality industry for 26 years. At Virginia Tech, he has involved students with the hospitality and tourism industry in ways that give them experience in the field. This past spring, he received the Pamplin College of Business Outreach Award for his outstanding leadership and initiative in outreach and his involvement in both domestic and international outreach efforts. He has been involved in research, continuing education, publishing, consulting, and supervising student service-learning off-campus laboratory assignments.
Feiertag’s philosophy, according to his nomination for the Pamplin award, "has always been to make sure that the world of hospitality management is aware of Virginia Tech’s mission of research, education, and outreach."
He is co-author of Lessons from the Field, a common-sense approach to hotel sales. He produced an audiotape series on hospitality sales. He is the featured columnist for Hotel & Motel Management Magazine, Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine, and group editor for Travel Trade Magazine. During the past year alone, he had 33 trade magazine columns published and made 27 industry presentations.
He has received the Meeting Professionals International President’s Award for contributions to industry education training, the lifetime achievement award by his induction into the Convention Industry Council Hall of Leaders, the distinguished Hall of Fame Award by Hospitality Sales and Management Association International, the Educator of the Year award by the Professional Convention Management Association, and certification by the American Hotel and Lodging Association. He has been appointed a fellow of the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Association for his lifetime achievements in industry education and mentoring. He is a lifetime member of Hospitality Sales and Marketing International and of Meeting Professionals International. He earned a bachelor’s from Michigan State University.
Virginia Tech's nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of leadership skills and ethical values and the integration of technology in the academic curriculum, and prepares students for global business challenges through faculty-led study-abroad programs. The college has research centers that focus on business leadership, electronic commerce, energy modeling, and wireless telecommunications. The college is committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part0time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.
