CAS 145
Presented by the Department of Communication Undergraduate Communication Association
Professor Alex Susskind joined the faculty at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration in the Department of Food and Beverage Management in 1998 and was elected to the Graduate Field of Communication in 1999. He earned his Ph.D. in Communication from Michigan State University with a specialization in organizational communication and his MBA with a concentration in personnel and human relations. Susskind earned his undergraduate degree at Purdue University in Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management and is also a trained chef with a degree in Culinary Arts from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.Prior to starting his career in Academia, Susskind was a chef and restaurant operator for both independent and multi-unit restaurant companies in the Northeastern and Southeastern United States.
Susskind is currently the senior member of the Hotel School’s Educational Policy Committee on which he has served for 5 consecutive years. Through the EPC he remains involved with preserving and enhancing the hospitality management curriculum at the School. He has also served as an Area Director (similar to Department Chair in the School), and served on the School’s Faculty Policy Committee. In addition to his service to the School, Susskind has been an active part of the North Campus Living and Learning Initiative since its inception and has been a Faculty Fellow in Donlon Hall since 2002 creating and participating in educational programming for our Freshmen each year. Susskind is currently serving his first year in the Faculty Senate. Through his research program Susskind has produced over 60 scholarly works and is currently examining: (a) customer-service provider interaction in service businesses as it relates to organizational performance from the perspective of guests, employees, and managers; and (b) the influence of communication relationships upon individuals’ work-related attitudes, perceptions, and performance in connection to organizational events and rocesses such as technology, sustainability, teamwork, and downsizing. His research is published in leading hospitality journals such as the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly and the leading journals in the fields of communication and management such as Communication Research and the Journal of Applied Psychology.