Josh Sweigert grew up on the Monterey Peninsula, working in a number of hospitality and tourism jobs during his teens and early twenties. After graduating from UC Davis in 2009 with a BA in History, he moved to South Lake Tahoe, working in local print media for several years before joining ADVANCE, the local California Adult Education Provider in the role of Tourism Industry Coordinator.
In 2018, Sweigert joined the North Far North Regional Consortium of the California Community Colleges as the region’s first ever Regional Director of Employer Engagement in Retail, Hospitality, Tourism. In this role, he helps community colleges across the region connect and engage with industry leaders in a variety of ways, with the goal of strengthening programs and their outcomes and impacts on students’ employability and quality of life.
With R·H·T in the region spanning everything from foothills wine country to the Mendocino Coast; from Sacramento’s farm-to-fork movement, sports arenas and conference travel to the extensive recreational opportunities afforded by the Sierra Nevada, the sector has a wide variety of need across the North Far North.
Josh works directly with faculty to support instructional and equipment needs, curriculum design, industry outreach and engagement and recruiting efforts, among other roles. In 2019, he led an effort to pilot a non-credit, work-based culinary boot camp for incarcerated students at a California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation conservation camp in the Sierra foothills. During the COVID-19 crisis, he has moved to support culinary students by funding ingredients for completing lab work from home, to assist faculty with the adoption and implementation of various tools for online learning, and to connect industry leaders closely to the community college system to attempt to aid displaced workers while sharing crucial data and key trends.
Colleges noted in grey on the map do not currently have Retail Hospitality or Tourism programs. Click HERE to see full list of R·H·T programs offered at each school.
“Josh works directly with faculty to support instructional and equipment needs, curriculum design, industry outreach and engagement, and recruiting efforts, among other roles.”
