{"id":421829,"date":"2026-10-08T02:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T02:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/421829\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T02:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T02:32:07","slug":"new-ucf-school-strengthens-universal-partnership-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/421829\/","title":{"rendered":"New UCF school strengthens Universal partnership | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/p>\n

Dr. Carissa Baker teaches Narrative in the Theme Park and Attraction Industry on Sept. 28 in Room 108 at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Baker spoke about the storytelling process used to create attractions for guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bryan Gonzalez<\/p>\n

Rosen College of Hospitality Management is expanding its partnership with Universal Destinations & Experiences to bring students guest speakers, special projects and other industry opportunities.<\/p>\n

The Universal School of Experience Leadership and Innovation was announced on May 11 as a new academic school in the Rosen College of Hospitality and Management, building on a more than 20-year relationship, according to a UCF press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new academic school is backed by a $10 million investment<\/a> from Universal. It now incorporates undergraduate and graduate degree programs in entertainment management, theme park management and related fields.<\/p>\n

Universal has previously partnered with other educational institutions, including Orange County Public Schools, to establish the Universal Education Center<\/a>, which allows high schoolers to work between classes.<\/p>\n

Jeannie Hahm, interim director of the Universal School of Experience Leadership and Innovation and associate professor, said the new school reorganizes three former departments within Rosen College into two distinct schools under what UCF calls a dual-school model<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hahm said the biggest value students will get is access to opportunities that build off the organization’s existing relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve been great partners over the years, but it provides that official, more formalized partnership,” Hahm said. “The UDX team is very, very excited to work closely with our students.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the UCF Advancements & Partnerships website<\/a>, Universal is the second-largest employer of Rosen College graduates with over 15,000 employees.<\/p>\n

Other collaborations, including the annual Universal Day<\/a> celebrated on UCF\u2019s Rosen campus, invites UCF students, alumni and staff for the opportunity to meet with recruiters and highlight the organization’s continued relationship.<\/p>\n

Hahm said many of the school\u2019s major projects and student opportunities are still in the early stages and may not be fully implemented this semester. She said the college is meeting with Universal employees to explore what future opportunities could look like, including several forms of collaboration.<\/p>\n

“So, from having them come in as guest speakers, to taking our students out there on field trips, or getting involved in projects or having them see different parts of operations, whether it’s related to technology or operations or design, [we’re] trying to add more of that integration,” Hahm said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hahm said the collaboration with Universal could bring career opportunities directly to students.<\/p>\n

“So possibly looking at progressive internships, which means students are working at different departments, different sectors within Universal, and then that will directly lead to full-time employment,” Hahm said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Carissa Baker, an associate professor of theme park and attraction management and a coordinator for UDX programming at Rosen, teaches an upper-level course focused on narrative in the theme park and attractions industry. She said studying parks such as Epic Universe helps students connect what they learn in the classroom to how storytelling is used in real-world attractions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re the newest park and the newest destination park in the world right now; they have so much storytelling in this park,\u201d\u00a0Baker said. \u201cThey have these very elaborately themed worlds that have different types of attractions, and all of them use storytelling in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the collaboration is with Universal, Baker said the skills taught in her class can connect to many other parts of the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that all the things that we teach, whether it’s that business side, that technological side or that creative side, all of these will translate into creating amazing guest experiences around the world and for any operator,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

Sarah Willoughby, sophomore event management major and student in Dr. Baker’s class, hopes the new school will bring more opportunities to campus.<\/p>\n

“I\u00a0hope\u00a0that\u00a0it\u00a0brings\u00a0more\u00a0of\u00a0a\u00a0deep\u00a0dive\u00a0look\u00a0into\u00a0the\u00a0industry,” Willoughby said. “I\u00a0hope\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0continues\u00a0and\u00a0it\u00a0grows\u00a0fire,\u00a0and\u00a0we\u00a0have, like, a Universal\u00a0class.”<\/p>\n

For Willoughby, the new school brings hopes of new professionals and guidance with employment opportunities.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’d like to see more mentors,” Willoughby said. “I’d like to see more higher-ups taking a step back to help grab a hand and lead them up and help them figure out where they’re going to be with inside of this industry.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Carissa Baker teaches Narrative in the Theme Park and Attraction Industry on Sept. 28 in Room 108…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4401,115,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-421829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-academics","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}