WEST FEDERATION CHRIE

Join us in this Career Development session to get advice on academic career job seeking. Our panelists, Dr. Shane C. Blum, Dr. Fevzi Okumus, Dr. Sandra Sun-Ah Ponting, and Dr. Cass Shum, will share advice related to job application materials preparation, phone interview, fly-out interviews, and post-offer negotiations. This session is best for on-the-market job candidates and doctoral students who will be on the market in the near future. 

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Shane C. Blum, PhD

Dr. Blum is an Associate Professor in the Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management Program in the Department of Hospitality and Retail Management at Texas Tech University.  He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in hotel management, leadership, curriculum development, and ethics.  His research focuses on organizational behavior issues such as leadership, organizational culture, and employee job satisfaction.  Dr. Blum is originally from Clifton, New Jersey and he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; his MBA from San Diego State University; and Ph.D. from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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Fevzi Okumus, PhD

Professor Fevzi Okumus is the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association (CFHLA) Preeminent Chair Professor within the Hospitality Services Department at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He was the Founding Chair of the Hospitality Services Department at UCF Rosen College. His main teaching and research areas include strategic management, leadership, hospitality management and lodging. He has over 300 academic publications (over 200 refereed journal articles, six books, 12 book chapters and 90 conference presentations and reports). As of January 3, 2023, his publications have received 18262 citations, and he has an h-index of 65. He has chaired/co-chaired and served on numerous PhD dissertation and master thesis committees. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM) (IF: 9.321) and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights (JHTI). He is a frequent speaker at international conferences. He has received numerous prestigious research awards and recognitions including “The Michael D. Olsen Research Award” in 2016; “The University of Central Florida Scroll & Quill Society Award” in 2017, the “CFHLA Preeminent Professor” again in 2017 and the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award from ICHRIE in 2018. Finally, Prof. Okumus was recognized as a “Highly Cited Researcher” in 2021 and 2022 by Clarivate, based on data from Web of Science. Highly Cited Researchers™ are 1 in 1,000 of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists.

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Sandra Sun-Ah Ponting, PhD

Sandra Sun-Ah Ponting, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor at the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, San Diego State University. Her research agenda includes investigating the relevance and significance of identities in hospitality and tourism organizations and workforces. She is specifically interested in understanding organizational elements attributing to the health and wellbeing of organizations. She has lived in four different countries, including South Korea, Australia, Fiji Islands, and the United States, working as a researcher, educator, government consultant, and higher-education administrator.

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Cass Shum, PhD (Moderator)

Dr. Cass Shum is an Associate Professor in Hospitality Organizational Behavior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). She received her Ph.D. in Management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Before joining UNLV, Dr. Shum worked as a research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and stayed at the University of Florida as a visiting scholar. Her research focuses on employees’ unethical behaviors, and contemporary challenges hospitality employees face, including abusive supervision, racial and sexual discrimination, rule-breaking behaviors, industry turnover, and the use of robots. Focusing on theoretical contributions and research rigor, Dr. Shum’s works can be found in the mainstream (e.g., Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics) and hospitality (e.g., International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management) journals. Dr. Shum is passionate about mentoring doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate researchers. Her teaching interests include organizational behavior, ethics, leadership, and research methods.