Faculty Biographies
Bill Franz
Bill Franz, PhD., PHR earned his MBA in 1981 from the University of South Dakota and immediately began a career in hospitality management. During his 20 years in private industry he moved from operations management into corporate training and development, human resources, and national and international consulting to the hospitality industry. The combination of industry experience, training and development, and his education has enabled him to pursue his primary interest-teaching. Bill began teaching part time in the Restaurant and Resort Management program in 2000. Over the next four years he pursued his doctorate degree in Education and Human Resource Studies at CSU while pulling double duty at CSU and Front Range Community College. Bill has been instrumental in the development of three of FRCC's on-line instructional programs and acts as a internal consultant with his CSU colleagues regarding the design and instruction of on-line curriculum within the department. As a full-time faculty member, Bill divides his time between classroom instruction and restaurant operations and instruction at the student-operated Aspen Grille Restaurant located in the Lory Student Center. Bill lives in Loveland with his partner Nancy and her two boys Jonathon and Paul, and their two golden retrievers. Bill's son Eric, and his wife Susie, live in Denver with their two children Cameron and Ellie. They all enjoy skiing, hiking, and gardening together. Bill's other passion is fly fishing. During the weekends and throughout the summer, Bill holds yet another teaching position -- fly fishing guide and instructor.
Gene Fritz
Gene Fritz, who recently took the position as a culinary instructor in the Restaurant and Resort Management Program and Executive Chef at the Aspen Grille student-operated restaurant, is an ACF Certified Culinary Educator and 1994 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Fritz has been passionate about the restaurant industry for more than 22 years. His foundation of experience ranges from full-service restaurants, cooking in the U.S. Army, and fine dining restaurants; such as the Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie, Wash. and St. Andrew's Cafe at the CIA campus in Hyde Park, New York. Fritz was previously the Director of Culinary Operations over the College of Culinary Arts at the Johnson and Wales University - Denver, CO campus. Fritz also was the executive chef and culinary educator who developed a student operated restaurant concept at the Washington State University called Cafe Curricula and provided critical culinary leadership to Hospitality Catering Services, a student ran operation. He taught lower and upper division culinary arts courses in a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen to more than 200 undergraduate business students each year at WSU. He has participated in numerous regional culinary competitions in the Pacific Northwest, and a Ft. Lee, Va., U.S. Armed Forces competition. He has won numerous gold, silver and bronze medals in ACF sanctioned Hot Food and Mystery Basket Culinary Competitions. From 1997-2005 he was the Culinary Educator at the WSU School of Hospitality Business Management in Pullman, WA, where he also earned his Bachelors degree in Hospitality Business Management and Master's degree in Education. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Colorado State University in Human Resources and Education. He provides annual support as a judge and consultant for the NRAEF ProStart Program and state/regional culinary competitions, and also played a key role in creating a Basic Knife Skills Video that will be distributed to all National high school ProStart programs. He was the recipient of a teaching innovation grant from the WSU College of Business and Economics Deans Excellence Fund, and ranked in the top quartile for teaching evaluations in the CBE as well. Relative to industry service, he is a past Vice President of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Chef's de Cuisine of the Inland Northwest Chapter. He has also conducted annual cooking demonstrations at events such as Savor the Flavor, Spokane Food Expo and the Taste Washington events throughout Washington State
Jeff Miller
Dr. Jeffrey P. Miller is an assistant professor in the Restaurant and Resort Management program in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University. He was a chef and food service management professional for twenty years before becoming a hospitality instructor in 1996. Dr. Miller has extensive experience in the food service operations. His academic areas of emphasis are food studies, alcohol beverage management, and research methods.