Hotel Executive Returns to DU to Pursue Teaching Dream
Author(s)
Lorne Fultonberg
Writer
In September 2017, the only thing was planning was his retirement.
For 35 years, Sharkey(MBA’93)had been chasingachildhood dream, forged in the Waterford crystal and Wedgewoodchinahe encountered ata Jamaican resort.There, at the Plantation Inn, the 11-year-oldswore to his parents he wouldrun a companyin the hospitality industry.
Not long ago, asthe 58-year-oldoutgoingpresident of Remington Hotelsmulled his future,an email hit his inbox. The 91's was announcing a new .
Sharkeypicked up the phone right away and called. This was his opportunity, herealized,tochasedownsomething hehaddesired his entire adult life.
“I wanted to teach at the college level,”Sharkeysays.“After 40 years, I wanted to give back to the industry,and I thought teaching would be a good way to do it.”
When he walks across the Commencement stage at Magness Arena in June, collecting his second DU degree,Sharkey, part of the inaugural cohort of executive PhDs,will be one step closer toachievinghis goal.
The Daniels program is the in the western United States, developed to blend quality cross-disciplinary researchandmodern-day organizational challenges, explains , associate dean and program director.Four students will graduate with Sharkey this spring and others will finish their dissertations in the summer or the next academic year.
“There are only a handful of PhDs in business that allow students to take this path to earn this advanced degree at a world-class business school,”she says.“As the founder of the program, I am immensely proud of our graduates who had the trust in me and Daniels to sign up for our first cohort.I am confident that they will use their new skillset to impact business and the public good as they continue to pursue their personal journeyspost-graduation.”
When Sharkey enrolled, he figured he was simply signing up for another threeyears of academic work, muchashehad done as an undergraduateoras a studentin the Daniels MBA program. Instead, he found an experience he calls the most challenging of his life.
“Everything about it was so unique compared to everything I’ve ever done, which made it scary as [crap],”hesays.
Not only did his classes force him to think differently, but Sharkey had tomake up ground technologically too. As the president of a billion-dollar company, Sharkeyhadnevercreatedreports; he just read them. Word processing and spreadsheets weretotally unfamiliar. The last time he worked a computer, he estimates, was in graduateschool, 25 years earlier.He typed his first exam on his iPhone, which wasfasterfor himthanusinga computer keyboard.
YouTube proved to be his savior — the source of innumerable tutorials that allowed him to complete his coursework. Each semester, Sharkey says, he gave himself permission toquit the program. But after completing his firstyear, therewas no looking back.
Sharkey’s dissertation focuses on the concept of“multi-unit leaders”—whetherthe skillsetsneeded to run one hotel translateto asuccessful careeras a regional manager, for example.
Completing hisprojectdidn’t always feel attainable, Sharkey admits. But he credits the program’s blended format for helping him stay on track to graduate this spring. He likens the innovative structure tothe weekend MBA program he completed at Daniels in 1993. Itallowed him to work toward his dreams while keeping his work schedule.
Still, thatdidn’tmeanthe road was easy.
“I could retire and be playing golf every day,”he remembers thinking.“Why am I starting a PhD program that probably ends up being the hardest thing I’vedone in my entire life? And why am I doing it at60 years old?”
The answer, he says,isatestament to the faculty he has encountered as a student — and the friends and family he hopes to inspire.
“The quality ofpeopleI’vecome across teaching at DU makes me want to be one of those people,”hesays.“If something is hard, it’s probably because it’s worthwhile.The harder it is probably the better it’s going to be.”