Soon, aspiring hotel operators won't have to leave Oregon to get a college degree. That's the upshot of Tuesday's announcement out of Oregon State University's Cascades campus.
OSU Cascades will enroll students this fall in the state's first hospitality management degree program. OSU officials say they hope it will also attract students interested in hotel management from elsewhere.
Campus executive Todd Montgomery says Cascades will differ from other programs by focusing on technology and eco-tourism. "We look at some of the top hospitality programs - such as Cornell - what we have that they don't have is we have a world-class laboratory - that's the Cascades, that's Central Oregon, that's Bend - to really give students an opportunity to develop those skills in an area that is quite unique, but is clearly looking toward the future."
Montgomery says it's hard to say how many students will be in the program in its first year. But he expects it to be a significant draw in the years to come.
Copyright 2015 Oregon Public Broadcasting
