MSU Denver to offer first cannabis hospitality certificates in the country
DENVER (KDVR) — Metropolitan State University of Denver unveiled a new cannabis hospitality certificate program to help students understand the budding industry.
MSU Denver becomes the first higher-education institution to offer students a way to make marijuana a career. It’s open to degree-seeking and non-degree-seeking students.
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Shannon Donnelly, the professor behind this new program, is excited to launch this green frontier within the university’s hospitality school.
“It’s time that we have these at MSU Denver, because Colorado is now reaching 11 years of legalization, just went over the decade mark, and we are excited to teach our students about this new frontier,” Donnelly said.
Cannabis hospitality certificates launched at MSU Denver
The Wednesday news conference announcing the program was equipped with with an alumni panel, seminars and cannabis cooking. The cooking was something MSU freshman Brianna Chavez was especially excited about.
“I want to be a cannabis chef, and so right now I am taking a culinary certificate, and next year I am going to do the cannabis specialist certificate so that I can get a foot up in the cannabis industry,” Chavez said.
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There will be two types of certificates: an entry-level Cannabis Hospitality Specialist certificate and a more advanced Cannabis Hospitality Manager certificate. Classes begin this fall, all to teach students the background of this $2 billion budding industry and how they can be part of it.
“A lot of people think of the cannabis industry as so small that there might not be a space for them,” Donnelly said. “So that’s what I want students to really walk away with to understand where they fit in the industry, and that MSU Denver can help them get there with these certificates.”
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