Students get professional training at new, on-campus hotel
Artists learn business entrepreneurship in University program
MSU Denver takes state lead in offering non-resident tuition rate
Roadrunner alumnus hits Olympic heights
MSU Denver and higher education in the news

President Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D.

Dear friends,

MSU Denver continues to think entrepreneurially so that we can take advantage of possibilities available in the community to meet our institutional priorities and extend our resources to help other organizations and businesses achieve theirs.

Our new Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC) is an outstanding example of how private companies and public universities can work together for their own benefit and that of their students as well as the economic betterment of the community. Together we have added much-needed hotel rooms to Denver’s inventory and created a groundbreaking training ground for Colorado’s hospitality and tourism professionals of the future—particularly important for this No. 2 industry in the state.

Innovative partnerships are ubiquitous at MSU Denver. New public-private partnerships between MSU Denver and Colorado-based companies Red Robin and Dazbog Coffee are increasing the dining options on campus and providing students employment and training opportunities.

The Biodiesel Pilot Plant Project will use spent cooking oils from the Hospitality Learning Center as raw material for fuel, while senior engineering students conduct additional research and testing for a local biodiesel company, gaining real-world experience that will advance them professionally.

These are only a few highlights. Of course, we have our challenges. Like every public university, we have funding issues—issues that we’ve anticipated and planned for. We are looking to do more than hold our own, however; we are working to make MSU Denver the country’s preeminent urban university. Which is why you’ll be seeing a lot more innovation and creativity from your scrappy University west of Speer.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading more about our latest initiatives below and, as always, I welcome your ideas and suggestions for this newsletter (please send them to me at stevejordan@msudenver.edu). I also hope you will be an advocate for MSU Denver by passing along this information to people who may have an interest.

Sincerely,
Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D.
President

Students get professional training at new, on-campus hotel

The grand opening on Sept. 27 introduced more than 400 community leaders to the amazing facilities in the Hospitality Learning Center.

A Food-Network-style demonstration classroom. 72-seat student-run restaurant and mixology lab. A cellar-management classroom with temperature-controlled space for 3,100 bottles of wine.

These are just a few of the tools faculty have at their disposal in the new MSU Denver Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC) to help the University’s 600-plus hospitality, tourism and events (HTE) students acquire real-world industry skills.

The HLC is an integrated facility that combines the 150-room boutique SpringHill Suites Denver Downtown at MSU Denver and 7,500 square feet of conference space with a cutting-edge academic building, where students are being prepared to take their place as management-level professionals in the region’s critical hospitality industry. Eventually about 80 percent of the hotel’s staff will be made up of MSU Denver students.

The SpringHill Suites opened Aug. 8 and the HLC’s Sept. 27 grand opening, Hospitality All Stars, was attended by Gov. John Hickenlooper, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and more than 400 other community and industry leaders and MSU Denver supporters.

The HLC is a public-private collaboration between the University and Denver-based Sage Hospitality, which operates the hotel. All profits from the hotel will flow into the MSU Denver Foundation; after five years, an estimated $1 million annually is expected to come into the foundation from the hotel.

According to Chad Gruhl, chair of the HTE Department, "Once more employers know what we've created here...they're going to want our students even more than they currently do because of that real-world experience."

Artists learn business entrepreneurship in University program

Innovation Center Director Mick Jackowski, shown here with student Krystal Groce, intends for the Metro State Creates program to teach artists to “embrace” the business side of their profession.

MSU Denver and local artists are collaborating in an innovative business program that brings art to the Student Success Building and gives the artists valuable business experience. The Metro State Creates showroom is part of a community business "incubator" program set up by the Center for Innovation to provide artists and artisans an opportunity to gain entrepreneurial experience. It is open to the public.

Work by a variety of artists and designers will be on display through early 2013. In addition, the artists can exhibit and sell their work through an ecommerce site for a monthly fee. Through a partnership with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), artists get mentoring help running and growing their businesses.

The idea is to support Colorado’s creative economy. A 2008 report commissioned by Colorado Creative Industries concluded that Colorado ranks fifth among the states in the concentration of creative occupations, including architects, artists, writers, designers, directors, performers and photographers, and that many creative occupations are expected to grow 30-45 percent over the next 10 years.

“We are trying to make it a total package,” says Director of the Center for Innovation Mick Jackowski of the initiative. “The idea is ‘don’t be afraid of business, embrace it.’”

MSU Denver takes state lead in offering non-resident tuition rate

Just less than 1 percent of this fall’s students at MSU Denver—237—are enrolled under the University’s new Colorado High School/GED Non-resident Tuition Rate that gives students a differentiated non-resident tuition rate if they meet specific criteria. The rate involves no state subsidy.

MSU Denver is the first public institution in Colorado to offer undocumented students a special tuition rate. Under the plan, Colorado students attending full-time who qualify for this rate pay $7,157 per academic year—more than in-state students but less than the standard out-of-state rate—provided they attended a Colorado high school for at least three years, have a diploma from that Colorado high school or a Colorado GED, and have signed an affidavit certifying they are in good legal standing other than their immigration status and intend to seek lawful status.

Since it is a non-resident rate, a U.S. citizen who meets the above high school criteria, but has been living out-of-state, can also qualify.

One undocumented MSU Denver student, Sarahi G. Hernández Romo, told The New York Times in August that the reduced tuition would allow her to focus on school, rather than worrying about drumming up enough money to enroll.

“It doesn’t mean I won’t have to work,” Hernández Romo said. “But it will allow me to get my dream going.”

Roadrunner alumnus hits Olympic heights

Todd Schmitz says jobs in bartending, waiting tables and restaurant management gave him the ideal training to be coach to the best female swimmer in the world. Schmitz, a 2001 graduate and championship swimmer at MSU Denver, went to the Olympics as assistant coach of the U.S. Women's Swim Team, a position he earned, in part, by coaching the Colorado Stars Swim Team and Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin.

Schmitz qualified for the NCAA Division II Nationals as a Roadrunner. Shortly after graduation a friend got him involved in coaching, which soon led to the Stars. His first group of "Starfish" included Franklin, whom he's coached ever since. The Stars won the 14-and-under championships during Schmitz' first year as coach.

Schmitz embarked on a business career after graduating but says he realized he was miserable sitting behind a desk, so he gave his notice and started coaching full time. In an interview last year with USA Swimming he said, "It’s about getting all you can out of yourself, staying healthy, eating smart, having fun, meeting new people and going new places, being a good teammate, taking constructive criticism, developing and being better on a daily basis. And when you think about it, that’s what we should be striving for every single day in life."

MSU Denver and higher education in the news

Denver’s Metro State launches students on a commercial path to space

Shepard Fairey creates mural for Center for Visual Art

New SpringHill Suites offers learning lab, jobs for students

Duncan criticizes states as “penny-wise and pound-foolish” for higher-ed cuts

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