RE: “The Rise and Fall of Johnson & Wales University”

Johnson & Wales University was founded as a secretarial/business school in 1914 by two women, Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales. When I joined the faculty in 1968, it had become the nonprofit Johnson & Wales Business College (offering two-year degrees). By 1970, it had become Johnson & Wales College (offering four-year degrees).

In the early 1970s, Hospitality and Culinary programs started, and enrollment really took off. The driving forces behind what was to become JWU were Morris Gaebe and John “Jack” Yena. Jack was always looking to differentiate the college from other institutions and implemented some unique features that also worked in the best interests of the students:

• Three terms vs. two semesters.
• A four-day class week, in which students attended classes every day and had long weekends to earn money to pay tuition.
• The purchase of practicum properties (Providence campus). All programs had an “internship” component, but employers were not really educating JWU students. Rather, the students (particularly hospitality students) were simply used as “go-fors.” To give students a structured education, JWU bought properties and staffed them with educators to provide a meaningful, practical experience. Accordingly, two hotel properties were purchased (with dining), one of which became a Radisson.
• The purchase of Gladdings, founded in 1766 and the oldest dry-goods store in the country. Because the store was open to the public, students got real-world interaction with customers.
• A travel agency—again, open to the public to give students real-time training.
• An equine center—JWU was widely respected in that industry. To be honest, when I went to North Miami, I tried to begin such a program there, particularly after researching with the Career Development Office and finding that graduates were doing quite well with employment opportunities.
• Other campuses. Not everyone wants to go to the main campus in Providence. So JWU education was exported to North Miami, Denver, and Charlotte.

With the exception of the Charlotte campus, all of the above have been eliminated in the past 15 years. Basically, the features that made JWU unique have been discarded.

Presently, JWU offers pretty much the same thing as its competitors. Without these distinctions, I believe applicants may pay more attention to non-academic things such as distance from home.

This is what I mean when I say JWU has lost focus. Other good programs have been introduced. But, without evidence of how JWU will better prepare them for a career, the applicant pool will continue to dwindle, and that may be the sad end to a great story begun by two women 111 years ago!

-Donald G. McGregor, J.D., President, Johnson & Wales University, North Miami Campus (ret.)