Student Success Stories
Are Morch
Master Certificate in the Essentials of Hospitality Management ‘08
Are began his eCornell studies in hospitality management in the city of Kristiansand, located in southern Norway. Employed in the hotel field, Are became aware of the reputation of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and found that eCornell could provide him with the opportunity to pursue studies in hospitality managment while living abroad.
Online learning is growing and getting more and more popular in Norway, according to Are, and as an adult learner it has been highly effective for him. He found the interactive experience with an instructor and cohort participation valuable as it offered him chances to use and apply his previous hotel experience to new learning.
Now relocated in the United States, Are is pursuing a general manager position and plans to complete his Master Certificate in Foodservice Management and Certificate in Hospitality Marketing, as he sets sights on continued growth in his career.
Saad M. Al Sayed
Certificate in Financial Management, ‘08
Certificate in Executive Leadership, ‘08
Certificate in Foodservice Management, ‘06
Saad hails from Al Khobar, a city in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. He has a degree in chemical engineering and is currently employed by Saudi Aramco as a planning engineer where his duties include developing and implementing operating plans and teaching a refining economics course.
Saad describes how opportunities for online studies are prevalant in his country, and within his company many online courses are available to all employees. He chose eCornell upon the advice of a friend that this was an excellent option for him given the variety of subjects offered that met his needs. It was also important that his studies not interfere with his ability to continue working.
A major benefit of his experience has been the interaction with students from different parts of the world in discussions within the courses. Joining eCornell has changed his life by helping him understand new concepts that he can apply to both his work and his personal life. Saad believes that in addition to increasing his own value, continuing his education also benefits the capabilities of his company and his community as a whole.
Saad plans to complete his MBA and continue on to his Doctorate of Business Administration.
Raza A. Azmi
Certificate in Executive Leadership, ‘08
Born and raised in Europe, Raza currently works in the field of business intelligence & analysis having gained extensive knowledge and international experience working in four continents around the world.
Raza chose to further his education with eCornell because of its excellent reputation and well structured online programs for executives. Given its association with Cornell University, he expected that he would have the opportunity to meet interesting people. What he did not expect was the high caliber, and unique method of interacting with the other students in his courses. Raza was not new to online learning and he tells us that his experience with eCornell exceeded his expectations.
eCornell, he tells us, has made an impact on his life giving him the opportunity to learn from a style that helped him to view and approach the field of management from different perspectives.
Raza intends to enroll in more eCornell programs to further develop his understanding of management and business administration.
Rami Shubbak
Business Leadership Skills Certificate, ‘08
Certificate in Change Leadership, ‘08
Certificate in Financial Management, ‘08
Rami has spent the past ten years working as an overseas project manager in the Middle East and North Africa in the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) sector. He understands that continuing education is critical to be an effective decision maker and to reaching ones professional goals, and constantly seeks quality education for self development and to renew awareness of changing dynamics in the business world.
Rami was attracted to eCornell because of the diverse and relevant certificate programs available to him at both the introductory and advanced levels of learning. He found his experience to be an efficient answer to his needs to optimize his learning with his busy travel schedule where courses were available from any timezone.
He found the diversity of the students in his courses from different parts of the world as important to gain perspective--energizing the learning experience by being exposed to different points of views.
Rami is keen to stay abreast of new eCornell programs to be offered in the future.
Alexander Dorus
Certificate in Executive Leadership ‘07
Master Certificate in Foodservice Management ‘06
Alexander Dorus had been employed in the hospitality industry for thirty-nine years with little career advancement. He realized it was time to take his passion for hospitality to a higher level and that he would need to further his education to do so.
Alexander discovered eCornell while searching through the Cornell University catalog. This was an exciting new approach to him as in Romania online learning is not yet very prevalant. He found the experience so positive that he has now successfully completed two certificate programs. Alexander found the diversity of students in his courses particularly valuable -- cohorts from the same field as him, yet globally dispersed and bringing a wealth of different experiences into the discussions.
Alexander’s future goals are to pursue the position of Hotel Manager, and he aspires to participate in the Professional Development Programme at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell.
Pierre Descartes
Certificate in Human Resources Studies, ‘05
Certificate in HR: Benefits and Compensation ‘04
Pierre holds a bachelor degree in engineering, and an MBA in finance, accounting and information systems, but his passion is for the field of human resources. While employed at the Central Bank of Haiti, Pierre began working in HR and desired to build his knowledge in HR to help understand the issues he was now facing on a daily basis.
eCornell was the choice for Pierre as he could develop his career, while working at his job. The HR Studies Certificate program was the path he chose and the classes were definitely up to his expectations.
Pierre found that the activities paralled that of a traditional classroom experience with reading assignments, homework, and audio/visuals. One major difference he notes, however, is that the discussion boards maintained a history of all dialog. This was a distinct advantage to real world class discussions, in that it allows for analysis of the cohort’s contributions at one’s own pace -- particularly helpful if English is not your first language.
After nearly ten years in Haiti, and a record of significant professional growth in the field of human resources, Pierre now calls Montreal his home and plans to pursue a career in consulting.
