Karthik Namasivayam joins the Broad College’s School of Hospitality Business as the John and Becky Duffey Professor of Hospitality Business and Director of the School. Effective August 2021, Namasivayam will replace Carl Borchgrevink, who has served as director since 2017.
Karthik Namasivayam
“I feel privileged and honored to be chosen as director of a school that has for over 95 years educated hospitality professionals who, as leaders and entrepreneurs, have helped shape the industry globally,” Namasivayam said.
Namasivayam comes to Michigan State University from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was professor and chair of the Department of Hospitality Management. Prior to RIT, he was Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland.
He obtained his Ph.D. and master’s degree in hospitality administration from Cornell University, and he has undergraduate degrees in economics from Madras University and hospitality management from the Institute of Catering Technology.
Namasivayam has taught in the United States, Switzerland, India and China at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has delivered tailored executive education programs for national corporations. As an administrator, he has been closely involved in designing forward-looking curricula.
His research explores the intersection between service providers and consumers and has been widely published in leading hospitality and marketing journals. Consistent with the evolution of the hospitality industry, Namasivayam researches the impact of various new technologies on consumer experience and consumer-centric organizational design. In 2008, he received the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s W. Bradford Wiley Memorial Best Research Paper of the Year award.
In his new role at the Broad College, Namasivayam is eager to make an impact for hospitality business Spartans. “I look forward to working with a very committed and talented group of faculty and staff to prepare students for leadership roles in a rapidly evolving global hospitality industry,” he said.
