Ken Tsai’s activities and involvement as being an undergraduate student at Iowa State University ultimately led to him growing to be a faculty member here.
Tsai, the latest assistant professor in event management, recently joined the Iowa State faculty. He received his bachelor’s degree in international business and marketing from Iowa State in 2003.
During his previous time on campus, he was greatly depending all his student activities. He served as president on the International Student Council, publicity director on the Student Union Board Executive Board, special attractions coordinator on the International Students and Scholars Office, and chair of international events at Veishea.
“Iowa State basically spurred my leadership and enthusiasm in event management,” he stated. “This was one of the initial bs degrees in event management in america. Thus i definitely wish to be part of it. Plus, that is my alma mater. Go Cyclones!”
Tsai joins a growing rapidly vocation at Iowa State, home of your only four-year event management major in the state. Graduates on the program are taught to be aware of the operational and ethical challenges of executing a gathering in the 21st century – from risk management to proper stage setup. This software, which began in the year 2011, has 426 graduates and currently enrolls 369 students majoring in event management and 72 who list event management his or her minor.
Developing, marketing, and sustaining small towns
Tsai’s research targets on how you can develop, market, and sustain tourism in small towns and cities. Tourism may be named a growing rapidly segment of your local economy and society in lots of small towns and cities. A lot of Tsai’s research topics include behavioral studies of holidaymakers and event entrepreneurship.
He had been a Certified Tourism Ambassador in Fort Collins, Colorado, in December 2016. The certification serves to improve tourism by giving front-line employees and volunteers in-depth knowledge in addition to a nationally industry-recognized credential this city as the tourist destination. As a result intends to collaborate when using the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau to bring the program to Ames.
Tsai’s experiences through the years vary from arranging a six-day event to celebrate the Lunar New Year, to organizing the first-ever International Police Fighting Competition in Dallas, Texas, where law enforcement officials from 10 countries competed in fighting technique, just like ultimate fighting.
“It certainly isn’t as glamorous behind the curtain countless people imagine,” he was quoted saying. “As a competent event coordinator, you must realize the integrated processes, plans, and possibilities specific to every single event you’re planning so that you’ll be a better planner, producer, purchaser, and partner in delivering the occasion experience that exceeds expectations. Creating and producing events is an exhilarating and in some cases exhausting occupation. But it is always rewarding emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes economically.”
Embracing technology in the classroom and field
Tsai implements a great deal of technology as teaching tools.
“Classroom technology presents unique opportunity to help my students acheived success,” he explained. “I welcome technology inside my classroom and also have used a number of cloud-based simulation software as teaching tools in and out of classrooms to support facilitate my instructional methods and student learning goals.”
Before visiting Iowa State, Tsai served for a mentor for any virtual reality competition called Hackathon at Colorado State University where he led groups of students in brainstorming, feedback, evaluation, and recommendations.
Last fall, Tsai worked with fellow event management faculty and students at Iowa State to produce a new event management lab in LeBaron Hall called “The Meeting Room: Where Experiences and Technology Innovate.” The lab provides for a space as a student and faculty to sign up in web conference, online instruction, computer-based instruction, and virtual reality. They are able to also access a meeting lighting and sound system.
Tsai also began teaching a completely new course at Iowa State, EVENT 277X, Review of Digital Promotion in Event Management. The program provides fundamental understandings of event management digital channels and social websites platforms. Tsai engages students make use of various design tools, for example Canva and Adobe Spark, to create event collateral materials, which have been part of an internal internet marketing strategy. These materials could include save-the-date postcards, invitations, brochures, programs, signage, city guides, evaluations, specialty items, and promotional products and bags.
“Dr. Tsai brings a large cornucopia of experience in areas of event digital marketing and sustainable tourism for our growing event management program,” said Eric Olson, an assistant professor who led Tsai’s search committee. “He effectively utilizes instructional technology in teaching, has lots of certifications to back up student learning, and is an active participant in this industry’s associations.”
A look at diversity
Tsai always loved to go and know about different cultures. He first left his home in Taiwan to read through abroad in Cambridge, England, and Sydney, Australia. He came to America like a secondary school exchange student in Rockton, Illinois. He’s frequently made presentations about Chinese culture in elementary schools.
“I love anything with culture,” he was quoted saying. “Cultural awareness and promoting diversity are a focus of my teaching. Just in case industry, global awareness, diversity, and cultural competency skills ought to be addressed. Concerning always embraced students with assorted cultural support activities in order to increase cultural awareness and skill.”
Before joining the Iowa State faculty, Tsai served being an assistant professor in tourism management at Colorado State University, and also as a helper professor of hospitality and tourism administration at Wiley College, a historically black college and university in Marshall, Texas.
“This offered me a really complete information on teaching to students with different backgrounds,” he was quoted saying.
