Message from the President
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| Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D. |
August 2012
Dear Supporters and Friends of MSU Denver:
I am proud to announce that Metropolitan State University of Denver's Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC), a premier academic facility for its Hospitality, Tourism and Events (HTE) Program, is open for business and learning.
Located on the Auraria Campus west of southbound Speer Boulevard on Auraria Parkway, the HLC is a state-of-the-art teaching and learning facility for MSU Denver’s HTE students and faculty and adjacent to the Spring Hill Suites© Denver Downtown that students will help operate. It is the only such facility in Colorado and one of only 11 teaching hotels in the United States. It will directly impact Colorado’s economy, of which the hospitality industry is a vital component.
MSU Denver provides the management training necessary for students to become the future leaders of Colorado’s hospitality and tourism industry. The 2012 fall semester’s enrollment of more than 600 declared HTE majors represents a doubling of enrollment over the last several years.
The HLC became a reality through an innovative public/private partnership. MSU Denver is leasing the land from the Auraria Higher Education Center; our special purpose corporation, HLC @ Metro, Inc., created a financing authority that issued low-interest bonds for the hotel’s construction costs; and revenue from operations will cover debt service. No taxpayer dollars were used.
The Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center will be the second building in the MSU Denver neighborhood: Our Student Success Building opened in March of this year. MSU Denver truly is on the rise!
Your continuing support of MSU Denver has helped make this exciting next step in our journey to preeminence a reality. Thank you.
Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D.
President
