UA to Honor Yuengling Sisters With Leadership Lecture, Hall of Fame

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jennifer Yuengling will be available for media interviews at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, at UA’s Child Development Research Center. For more information, contact Richard LeComte, media relations, at rllecomte@ur.ua.edu or 205/348-3782.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Jennifer Yuengling, plant coordinator for D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc., America’s Oldest Brewery, will be the next speaker in the Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture from 10 to 10:50 a.m. and from 1 to 1:50 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, at The University of Alabama’s Child Development Research Center.

UA’s restaurant, hospitality and meetings management program in The College of Human Environmental Sciences is the sponsor of the event.

In addition to the talk, faculty will induct Jennifer Yuengling and her sister, Sheryl Yuengling, into UA’s Hospitality Hall of Fame.

Jennifer Yuengling is part of the sixth generation of a family brewing legacy that began in 1829 in Pottsville, Pa. The Yuengling Brewery is still family-owned and operated, having achieved a milestone 180th anniversary in 2009.  She graduated from Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. She then completed her Master of Education in counseling psychology from Lehigh University. After returning to her hometown of Pottsville, she joined the family business in 1996 and spent the next several years training throughout the operations departments.

Sheryl Yuengling is a 2005 graduate from UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences. She recently completed study at the Pennsylvania School of Culinary Arts.

Sponsored by Bill Bowron of Red Diamond Inc. in Birmingham, the leadership series of the restaurant, hotel and meetings management program at UA began in 2002 to introduce students to a variety of hospitality leaders and their perspectives of the hospitality industry.

UA’s Hospitality Hall of Fame was created in 2010 to honor individuals who demonstrate outstanding leadership in the hospitality profession; emulate the six exemplary characteristics of leadership — model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, kindle the heart, enable others to act and believing in oneself; have established a strong, supportive relationship with UA; and have participated in the Shila Bowron Leadership Lecture Series.

The restaurant, hotel, and meetings management program at UA was established in 1985 as part of the department of human nutrition and hospitality management within the College of Human Environmental Sciences. More than 600 students have graduated from the program and are employed in a variety of hospitality management positions throughout the United States. Approximately 400 students are enrolled in the program.