Mark Burke, president of Johnson & Wales University, Denver, said The Hospitality College will offer associate degrees in hotel management and food and beverage management, and bachelor of science degrees in foodservice management and sports/entertainment/event management. The requirement for the bachelor of science degree for foodservice management is an
associate's degree in culinary arts or food and beverage management. 

Additionally, Johnson & Wales University will offer a bachelor of science degree in hotel management in fall 2003. This year, 71 students have enrolled.

"In keeping with Johnson & Wales University's longstanding tradition of career-based education, we know that these programs will be of great value to employers and students in Colorado and throughout the Rocky Mountain region," Burke said. "Hospitality is the largest growing business in the world and Johnson & Wales University is hospitality's largest educator."

Burke said Johnson & Wales University established The Hospitality College in Denver in response to the tremendous need expressed by Denver employers for well-educated managers. The college has developed term-long externship programs with the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and the Inverness Hotel and Golf Club in Englewood.

C. W. Craig Reed, director of food and beverage at the Broadmoor Hotel, said that partnering with Johnson & Wales was a logical commitment for the Broadmoor.

"We know we will be working with quality students who will be a successful part of the Broadmoor's tradition and contribute to Colorado's great hospitality industry at large," Reed said.

Dean Ecker, executive chef at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Club said the Inverness, a four-diamond hotel, supports the program by providing a site where the students are able to work in and learn about several food and beverage disciplines.
   
"This is beneficial to us as well as the students, and we look forward to improving on this great relationship," Ecker said.
    
Burke appointed Stephen Pyle chairman of The Hospitality College. Pyle had been an instructor and an associate professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., for nine years prior to moving to Denver to lead The Hospitality College. In Providence, Pyle was chair of the Center for Sports recreation and event management. He received The Hospitality College's Teacher of the Year Award in 1995, the Outstanding Service Award in 1997 and the Curriculum Development Award in 1999.

Pyle has a bachelor of science degree in hospitality administration from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration, and a master of science degree from Radford University in recreation and leisure management. He has extensive professional management experience in the hospitality industry, including all of the course areas offered in Denver.

"Colorado's thriving hospitality industry -- from the Pepsi Center, Coors Field and Invesco Field at Mile High to the ski resorts and all of the region's hotel properties -- presents a tremendous need for the kind of professional education Johnson & Wales University provides," Pyle said. "Our programs go beyond the traditional approach to reflect the interconnectiveness of the hospitality industry.

Upon graduation, Johnson & Wales students will have been exposed through course work and industry involvement to every segment of the industry -- be it travel and tourism, sports/entertainment/event management, and hotel and food and beverage management."

Johnson & Wales -- America's Career University(R) -- was founded in 1914. It is an accredited, non-profit, private institution offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, foodservice, hospitality and technology. For 20 years, Johnson & Wales University has maintained a 98 percent employment rate for those graduates seeking employment in their chosen field.

Johnson & Wales University, Denver, was established in September 2000 and is located on a 26-acre campus at 7150 Montview Blvd. The university has an enrollment of 11,500 students and maintains other campuses in Providence, R.I., Charleston, S.C., Norfolk, Va., Worcester, Mass., and Gothenberg, Sweden.