Linchi Kwok, Ph. D

Dr. Linchi Kwok is a full professor at The Collins College of Hospitality Management, California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). He is now a member of Cal Poly Pomona’s Retention, Tenure, and Promotion (RTP) Committee. Prior, he was the Chair of the College's RTP Committee between 2019 and 2021, in which he led the effort to make major revisions to the College's RTP document (2020/21 - 2024/25). He was a Senator and a member of the Executive Committee at the University's Academic Senate between 2019 and 2022. When Cal Poly Pomona went through the quarter-to-semester conversion process, Professor Kwok successfully led the College's Curriculum Committee in restructuring the curriculum.

Professor Kwok came to Cal Poly Pomona by way of Syracuse University (SU) in 2013, where he was an assistant professor of hospitality management. Between 2011 and 2013, Professor Kwok was named a Kauffman Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at SU to support the university’s initiatives in teaching and research excellence in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Besides his tenured and tenure-track employment, Professor Kwok is a visiting professor at the Sun Yet Sen Business School (AACSB-, EQUIS-, and AMBA-accredited; among the top three business schools in mainland China) and taught at Rochester Institute of Technology and Texas Tech University. Over the years, Professor Kwok has developed and taught 20+ undergraduate and graduate classes that cover a variety of subjects, such as marketing management, human resource management, market analysis in the lodging and tourism industry, hotel sales, information technology, service operations, social media marketing, and tourism management. 

Professor Kwok’s research interests include hospitality management, service marketing, and information technology. Between 2010 and 2022, Professor Kwok submitted 30+ grant applications with a total of over $410,000 and received about $160,000 in internal and external funds to support his scholarly work. Professor Kwok has presented 70+ papers at conferences and conducted 10+ invited presentations on pedagogical strategies, dinner etiquette, and research methods. At Cal Poly Pomona, Professor Kwok has advised 25 master’s students in their theses/professional papers as either a chairperson or a committee member, some of whom also publish their work with Dr. Kwok in top hospitality/tourism journals. Professor Kwok's work received numerous Best Paper Awards at conferences. His research often appears in high-impact journals in the field. Professor Kwok serves on the editorial board for International Journal of Hospitality Management (a corresponding editor), Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. He performs ad-hok reviews for more than 30 hospitality/social science journals and conferences.

Additionally, Professor Kwok is a thought leader in hospitality management. He publishes periodical viewpoint articles about hospitality news and trends (by invitation only) in/on Hospitality News Magazine, HospitalityNet.org, Hotel-Online.com, MultiBriefs.com, and HotelExecutive.com, in addition to other exposures on mainstream media. Professor Kwok is recognized as an expert in hospitality management at Cal Poly Pomona.

Professor Kwok holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. degree in Hospitality Administration from Texas Tech University and an MBA degree from SU. His professional portfolio also includes several years of managerial and hands-on experience in the hospitality industry in the U.S. and mainland China.