Bergen Community College assistant professor Ronda Drakeford instructs hospitality and tourism courses in the Department of Hotel Restaurant and Management (HRM) within the Division of Business and Social Sciences.
“Teaching hospitality develops essential skills for all disciplines, inspires creativity, develops leadership aptitudes, and is a future-proof employment sector,” said Drakeford.
Drakeford, a lifetime resident of Bergen County, began her career as a chef 30 years ago in her family’s seafood restaurant. She always desired a career in education. In 2006, she began teaching in the Career Exploration Program at the Bergen County Academies. In 2010, she combined her business, culinary, and education skills to develop the first Culinary Arts program for Englewood Public School.
“I took classes at Bergen Community College and was pleased with the quality and knowledge of the faculty,” said Drakeford. “This admiration turned into a goal to spend the final years of my career as a faculty member at Bergen.”
Hired in 2017, Drakeford has held positions of instructor, associate instructor, coordinator, and chair at Bergen. She has been elected twice as her program coordinator and served in a leadership capacity on several initiatives. Drakeford is working as the principal investigator (PI) for the USDA HSI NIFA Grant and the co-principal investigator (Co-PI) USDA NEXTGEN Grant, which awarded the college more than 5 million dollars to educate students and the community on the importance of sustainably ensuring the access of safe, high-quality, and nutritious food at affordable prices for the consuming public. Deeply involved with her community, Drakeford spearheaded an innovative partnership with Volvo Cars of the Americas where culinary students were afforded the opportunity to run Volvo’s corporate dining facility while learning industry skills outside of a traditional classroom. The unique initiative focused on institutional and community engagement.
Teaching is Drakeford’s passion because she loves learning and growing with her students. “Watching students transform within an inclusive learning environment is highly fulfilling,” said Drakeford. Drakeford has four points in her teaching philosophy: 1) Share my knowledge; 2) Assist and challenge my students and colleagues; 3) Provide rigor and embolden creative experimentation; 4) Respect and strengthen the diversity of students and their needs while preserving stability and equality.
Drakeford enjoys sharing knowledge with her students and watching them grow academically and socially. She said, “I love the diverse student population at Bergen!”
Drakeford earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Fairleigh Dickinson University (2010) and her Master of Science degree in organizational leadership and management from Thomas Edison University (2018). She has entered a Doctor of Education program with a concentration in higher education leadership at Manhattanville College and expects to graduate in summer 2025.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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