The NYU School of Professional Studies has partnered with the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation to create a $5 million apprenticeship fund for students pursuing an associate of applied science in hospitality, with the degree offering set to launch in the spring 2026 semester.
Through the Workforce Apprentice Program, incoming SPS students will be able to complete up to 30 credits — half of what is needed to earn an associate’s degree — through a mentorship-focused work experience in the hospitality industry. The program will operate in tandem with New York City mayor Eric Adams’ “Apprenticeship Accelerator,” a 2023 initiative to support apprenticeships for 30,000 residents by 2030.
SPS dean Angie Kamath said that with the new associate degree offering, the school’s Tisch Center of Hospitality aims to demonstrate that people who are curious about careers in hospitality can holistically explore the industry with both job and classroom experience through a two-year program.
“We are able to help attract a creative pathway into great living wages and sustainable jobs that are in demand in the hospitality industry,” Kamath said in an interview with WSN. “It’s an affordable, flexible, career-oriented way to earn an academic credential — we’re really excited to partner with the Marriott Foundation to create this program.”
Kamath added that citywide and local businesses that are seeking apprentices in line with Adams’ goal will ideally recruit SPS students pursuing associate’s degrees, effectively increasing workforce accessibility — a key part of the mayor’s initiative. Over 15,000 apprenticeship opportunities had been created within nearly three years of the Apprenticeship Accelerator’s launch. Most recently, Adams invested $2.1 million to establish apprenticeships for certain positions, such as nursing assistants and childcare workers.
Associate hospitality students will have access to career services, the opportunity to study abroad and for-credit internships at large-scale companies like Madison Square Garden and Millennium Hotels and Resorts, as detailed on the SPS’ website. Brian Barker — a clinical associate professor of hospitality and leading faculty member of the new degree program — was also named the first executive director of apprenticeship and workforce development.
NYU will collaborate with the AHLA Foundation — which aims to increase retention in the hotel industry to fight a national workforce shortage — the consulting company AHEAD and other major hospitality firms to connect SPS students with apprenticeship roles that introduce them to the industry and foster professional satisfaction. The Marriott Foundation will only fund the program and have no input on the apprenticeships themselves.
Marriott Foundation CEO Mieka Wick told WSN that the nonprofit’s goal for its partnership with NYU is to diversify the hospitality industry and demonstrate that its scope expands beyond service jobs like receptionists or housekeepers to customer service as a whole.
“As an apprentice, you’re getting exposed to the 360-degree view of the job or the industry, and then really finding what resonates with you most,” Wick said. “We believe that people will have a much deeper and more meaningful exposure to what it means to work in hospitality.”
This is the Marriott Foundation’s third collaboration with an academic institution. In 2021, it joined Howard University, a historically Black school, to establish the Marriott-Sorenson Center for Hospitality Leadership — which aims to use a $20 million endowment to diversify the hospitality workforce. The organization also dedicated $3 million to the University of Utah in 2009 to finance scholarships for music and performing arts students.
“It is really important for young people to have the ability to not just sit in the classroom,” Kamath said. “They will also be spending time at a work site where they can reinforce their learning, bring in new ideas and challenges into the classroom and really supercharge their learning.”
Contact Graylin Lucas at [email protected].
