Dr. Angela Sebby tapped to lead MC’s new Hospitality and Regional Identity program
April 6, 2023
As a daughter of Appalachia, Dr. Angela Sebby feels a deep and abiding kinship with the land, its people and the traditions they’ve cultivated in its hills for three centuries.
Beginning with the 2023-24 academic year, she plans to bring that sense of place to Maryville College as the new associate professor and coordinator of the recently launched Hospitality and Regional Identity program of study.
“The one thing I really want to focus on is the Appalachian culture, because people can take that with them everywhere, from Charleston to New York City to San Diego,” Sebby said. “It means that when they’re out there working in this industry, foremost on their minds is what I refer to as servant leadership: empathy, kindness, inspiring others, serving with humility, and collaboration.”
More than just a degree
Under Sebby’s guidance, the Hospitality and Regional Identity program — launched at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year — will continue to focus on both classroom and experiential learning. The new major requires 58 credit hours, and a minor in Hospitality and Regional Identity will require 18. Four new courses have been developed that focus on customer experience, marketing, management and operations and regional identity through food and beverage.
Other required and elective courses will draw from current offerings in the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Health Sciences and Outdoor Studies areas. The curriculum leans into Appalachian identity, with students having options to study Appalachian cultural and social history, food traditions, religion and the landforms, flora and fauna of the Great Smoky Mountains. A number of regional partners, including RT Lodge, Blackberry Farm and Blount Partnership, have committed almost $2 million over the next five years to fund the program without any additional impact on the College’s current operating budget, according to MC President Dr. Bryan Coker.
“The appointment of Dr. Angela Sebby is the perfect beginning to our new Hospitality and Regional Identity program,” Coker said. “Dr. Sebby’s experiences and existing relationships in the hospitality industry make her the ideal person to launch and build this innovative program. I look forward to watching the growth and impact of the Hospitality and Regional Identity program on East Tennessee’s bourgeoning hospitality and tourism industry.”
“I’m delighted that Dr. Sebby will be joining us,” added Dr. Dan Klingensmith, vice president and dean of the College. “In addition to having a scholarly commitment to her field, she has a great record of preparing students for success, both as a classroom teacher and as a one-on-one mentor. She also has a lifelong commitment to our region.”
Rooted in the region
Although Sebby’s education and professional background — she earned her bachelor’s degree in service management and hospitality/tourism from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2011, an MBA in marketing from Lincoln Memorial University in 2012 and a Ph.D. in retail, hospitality and tourism management from UTK in 2016 — made her one of the leading candidates for the position of Maryville College, she traces the root of her expertise back to her upbringing in rural Anderson County, Tennessee.
“Hospitality was instilled in me from a very early age, but little did I know, it was Appalachian hospitality,” she said. “It was evident in the way we showcased our heritage, and it had a lot of strong values like faith and family, and food was always a part of it. My grandmother, who I called Mamaw, is probably the one who had the strongest influence on me.
“She lived down the road, and in her, I saw hard work, modesty, a lot of kindness and creativity. She was a maker even before we heard the phrase, and I grew up learning macramé, crocheting, sewing and quilt-making, and I learned how to whittle and garden from my grandfather.”
Community, she added, was at the heart of her childhood. From neighbors driving by and stopping for a spell to swap stories on the porch or sharing food with folks nearby from the family garden, those experiences cultivated a sense of belonging that Sebby believes is at the heart of hospitality. And when intertwined with regional identity, it can have a distinct flavor that those who major in it can take with them across the country.
“That’s the part I love about hospitality: It’s about loving on people and how you can be of service,” she said. “It’s the storytelling, and it’s remembering wonderful times and wonderful people and actually keeping them alive through carrying on these traditions and ways of life.”
A career in hospitality
Today, Sebby lives in the Strawberry Plains community of Knox County, a stone’s throw from the Sevier County tourist towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, where she worked for years in the hospitality industry. In addition to management, fundraising and event planning roles at a number of area businesses and organizations, Sebby served as the general manager for the Sevierville Wingate Inn, as assistant manager of Visitor Services for the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation, and as an associate professor in the College of Business at Western Carolina University, where she teaches a variety of hospitality-related courses. In addition, she has earned Certified Hospitality Educator credentials from the American Hotel and Lodging Education Institute (AHLEI), from which she’s also obtained certification in Hotel Industry Analytics, Contemporary Club Management and Managing Bar Operations.
When MC announced the Hospitality and Regional Identity program of study last summer, Sebby initiated conversations with members of the administration that led to her application last November for the role of associate professor and program coordinator. Although she won’t officially start until fall 2023, she’s already given a great deal of thought to ways she might help steer the fledgling program and transform it into a marquee major for Maryville College.
“I see this as such a great opportunity to use the practices and lessons I’ve learned over the past few years with what the College currently has and to make it better,” she said. “It’s so much more than a business degree, and if you’ve ever worked in the hospitality industry, you know that. It’s about service and about leading with service, and Appalachian hospitality is more than just numbers and service with a smile. It’s how to serve with the heart, engage with others wherever you may find yourself, and sharing and listening to other people’s stories, because those are the things that create generational memories and experiences.
“It’s such a unique program at Maryville College, unlike other hospitality and tourism programs. At other locations where it is really centered on the basics in the industry, this program, it’s been said, is about creating storytellers, which is something that’s near and dear to my heart that I also love sharing in class. I think our mission is to work with our outstanding partners to encourage our students to take part in servant leadership — and that means listening, caring, honoring people, respecting your employees and treating your guests with humility.”