William Host, a Roosevelt University associate professor of hospitality and tourism management and a leading expert in the meeting and events planning field, has been named by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) as its 2010 Education Honoree.

Host is being recognized for developing a robust meetings program curriculum at Roosevelt University, for designing and implementing a variety of education programs for PCMA student members, and for his first book, Early Chicago Hotels, which features his personal collection of Chicago hotel postcards and his exploration of architecture and social history in Chicago hotels built after the Great Chicago Fire and until World War 1.

The PCMA is the professional resource center and premier educator for meetings and the convention industry. Founded in 1957, it represents the interests of meeting management executives from associations, non-profit organizations, corporations, independent meeting planning companies and multi-management firms around the globe.

Given annually, PCMA's Education Honoree award is international in scope and is considered to be among the most prestigious in the meeting and events planning and management field, according to Gerald Bober, director of Roosevelt's Manfred Steinfeld School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Host will receive the award at a PCMA dinner in Washington, D.C. in May 2010.
"Bill Host has led our effort to build a strong, cutting-edge meetings and events planning curriculum," said Bober. "This is a much-deserved honor and a noteworthy achievement for him."

Host is a 1999 alumnus of the University's graduate hospitality and tourism management program. He joined Roosevelt's Manfred Steinfeld Hospitality and Tourism Management program as a full-time faculty member in 2001, and currently teaches courses in meetings and events logistics, multi-cultural issues and communication in the hospitality industry and introduction to meetings and events.

With more than 25 years of experience in all facets of meetings and special events management, Host previously was the president of his own meeting planning and logistics firm, HOST Meetings & Events Management. He also was inducted into the Meeting Professionals International – Chicago Area Chapter's Hall of Fame in 2006.

"I am honored to be chosen for this prestigious award, and am thrilled that my work and Roosevelt's hospitality management program are being recognized," Host said.