Dean Ceridwyn King - Hotelier Turned Hotelie

The first thing Dean King would like everyone to know is that hospitality is in her DNA and that she is driven by a desire to make a difference through motivating and educating the next generation of industry leaders. Her passion for the industry is sincere and deeply consistent with the Hotelie mantra that “Life is Service.”

Professor Ceridwyn King was appointed the Dimond Family Dean of the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration on July 1, 2026. Her journey to Ithaca has taken her from an accomplished industry practitioner to educator and academic leader.

Starting Out in Australia

Ceridwyn grew up on Australia’s Gold Coast, where tourism is the region’s number one industry. Possessing a strong desire to serve, she found employment at a hotel while still in high school. When it came time to apply for college, she was attracted to the relatively new hospitality program at Griffith University on the Gold Coast.

It was at Griffith that she first encountered Cornell. The Cornell Hotel School had served as a model in shaping Griffith’s hospitality curriculum.

Upon graduation, Ceridwyn landed a management in training position at the Sheraton Towers Southgate in Melbourne. After working in the Sales and Marketing Department, she discovered that her greatest interest was in marketing rather than sales. Wanting to gain additional marketing experience, she returned to the Gold Coast to work at Conrad Jupiters. The expansive property included a 609-room hotel, casino, international showroom, convention center, five restaurants, and nine bars.

Ceridwyn eventually rose to the position of Head of Marketing. During her tenure, she successfully repositioned the property in an ever increasingly competitive marketplace.

            Graduate Studies

With hospitality firmly established as her career of choice, Ceridwyn returned to Griffith University to pursue a master’s degree. She believed that an advanced degree would expand her employment opportunities. Near the end of her master’s program, a professor encouraged her to prepare a thesis.

Drawing upon her operational experience, Ceridwyn identified a need for employees of services organizations to have a better understanding of what the organization’s marketing efforts meant for them in their roles and responsibilities. Her thesis therefore focused on engaging employees to understand the organization’s brand promise to ensure it was delivered successfully to consumers as they expected. During her time as a master’s student, she also had her first exposure to the joys of teaching.

Enjoying both the research and teaching she experienced while earning her master’s degree, Ceridwyn decided to step away from industry for a time and remain at Griffith University to pursue a Ph.D. Once again, her research focused on the convergence of human resources and marketing—a discipline now described as “Internal Brand Management.”

With a Ph.D., Ceridwyn felt she could pursue what she believed in so deeply: the need to train and motivate hospitality employees through a combination of industry experience and academic knowledge.

            Academia

Shortly after receiving her Ph.D., Ceridwyn was offered an opportunity to join the faculty at Temple University in Philadelphia. She enthusiastically accepted the position, in part because being in the United States placed her closer to the headquarters of many of the world’s largest hotel companies.

During her 11 years at Temple, Ceridwyn observed the evolution of academia firsthand as the hospitality program developed into its own distinct academic department within the university.

In 2022, Purdue University offered Ceridwyn the position of White Lodging Services Head of the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Her experience observing the growth and development of Temple’s hospitality program gave her valuable insight into the work that lay ahead at Purdue.

The hospitality program at Purdue had a long history of research and undergraduate education but needed greater visibility and engagement within the industry. Ceridwyn brought the experience and leadership needed to help strengthen its position and profile.

            Cornell

Before arriving at Cornell this summer, Ceridwyn had visited the Ithaca campus only once, for a conference. She also served on the editorial board of the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly. Now that she is experiencing the Nolan School firsthand, she says that her previous positive perceptions have been affirmed—and, in many cases, amplified.

As a marketing professional, one of Dean King’s first priorities is telling the story of the Cornell Nolan School. An important part of that story is demonstrating the value of a Cornell Nolan School degree — a challenge facing universities across the country today.

            Alumni

A major component of Ceridwyn’s storytelling will be the passion and global footprint of the Hotelie alumni community, which she sees as a defining attribute of the Hotel School. Early in her tenure, Ceridwyn has already experienced that passion firsthand (https://lnkd.in/p/eWBz3xVj). This is somewhat different from her experience in Australia, where people attend college but may not view their university affiliation as a defining part of their identity throughout their lives.

The hospitality program at Temple was relatively young, and its alumni community was therefore still developing. Conversely, Purdue’s hospitality program had a long history, but Ceridwyn found that new initiatives were needed to bring alumni back to campus and encourage greater engagement.

At her new home in Ithaca this summer, Dean King has appreciated the beauty of central New York. The hilly, rural, and expansive nature of the Finger Lakes region is being enjoyed by both her husband (a biking enthusiast) and their dog. Hopefully their experience in Philadelphia and West Lafayette will have prepared them for winters in Ithaca.  The couple has two children – Mackenzie, 27, restaurant manager of Nelson Cottage at Park City and Camryn, 21, a senior at Purdue University studying environmental health science.

At Cornell, Dean King wants to proactively build upon the strength of the Hotelie alumni network. She views it as an important asset that should be nurtured for the benefit of students and faculty.

Ceridwyn looks forward to engaging with the alumni community through meetings with her advisory board and attendance at Cornell Hotel Society events as her academic and travel schedule permits. From what she has seen so far, the global CHS organization provides Hotelies with a “home away from home,” no matter where they are in the world.

***

Interviewed by Robert Mandelbaum ‘81