News

Travelers visiting the Portland metro area spent nearly $3 billion in 2004, money that supported more than 27,000 local jobs. In the next decade, the restaurant industry anticipates creating 45,000 new management positions.

To help prepare students for management careers in tourism (Oregon’s second-largest industry), Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) and Portland State have launched a joint hospitality and tourism program—the only one of its kind in the region.

Students will attend MHCC to earn an associate’s degree in hospitality and tourism, with instruction and training in hotel, travel, recreation, tourism, culinary arts, food service, convention, meeting planning, and related service industries. Students then will transfer to Portland State to complete a bachelor’s degree in business administration, while getting hands-on experience at PSU’s University Place conference center. University Place, located on SW 4th and Lincoln, is a former Doubletree hotel.

University Place recently built a training and classroom space to incorporate the program’s culinary arts classes into the daily running of its conference center.

“Over the next few years, the POVA Education and Training Foundation, along with other industry partners, is looking forward to working with PSU and Mt. Hood Community College to build this program,” says Carol Lentz, executive vice president of POVA (Portland Oregon Visitors Association).