Race to 100 Alumni

Dr. Anthony Borgese

Theater Major
KCC Class of 1988
Current Title/Profession: Tourism & Hospitality Department Chair and Associate Professor at KCC

It’s hard to be “more KCC” than Anthony Borgese, who graduated from the college in 1988 and has taught in the Department of Tourism & Hospitality for over two decades. Hear him tell it, though, and you discover that his second chapter at KCC happened almost by accident: “I worked in the hotel industry for 10 years, then started looking into law school. But when I  asked my former KCC professor, Dr. Schulman, for a letter of recommendation, he asked me to  come back and teach. One of his colleagues was out with a medical emergency, and he needed someone to fill in. I agreed to do it, begrudgingly, but after one day in the classroom I was hooked!” 

 Now a veteran teacher and mentor in his own right, Dr. Borgese believes that “passion changes  everything,” a saying often attributed to Anthony Melchiorri, an icon of the hotel industry and  host of the hit show Hotel Impossible. Fortunately, Dr. Borgese encounters no shortage of  game-changing passion in the KCC students who attend his classes. 

“Hotel Management is such a specific industry,” he says. “It tends to attract students who are  highly focused and motivated to earn their degrees and advance in their careers.” In 2004, he  was particularly proud to see one of his students, Eusie Skeete, named KCC’s valedictorian, a first for the Department of Tourism & Hospitality. 

In 2021, Dr. Borgese further invested in his students’ success by making a generous donation to  establish the Borgese Family Graduation Award. Beginning this spring, the award will provide  recognition and financial support to a graduating Hotel Management major who has achieved  academic excellence and plans to enter directly into the hotel industry or a four-year college. With this award, Dr. Borgese has found yet another way to convey his pride in his students’  achievements and prepare them for bright futures in their careers. “Like many of the students  I’ve taught,I was the first member in my family to graduate from college,” he says. “I am grateful that God has put me in a position to give back, and I would encourage everyone who loves KCC as I do to consider doing the same.”