Maine college to run ski resort program on slopes of Killington

KILLINGTON, Vt. (AP) _ A Maine college plans to open a resort management program at the Killington ski area next year. St. Joseph’s College of Standish, Maine, has signed a contract with Killington developer Bernard Rome to house its new master’s program in resort management. The program will be located at the Killington campus that Green Mountain College rented for its resort management program in 2001, before becoming involved in a contract dispute with Rome. The St. Joseph’s program will offer a two-year master’s degree and is expected to have about 20 students when it starts next fall, said the college’s marketing director, Brent Wooten. Students will take classes at the Standish campus in the fall and perform paid internships at Killington during the ski season in administration, hospitality and retail, Wooten said. Students earn $6,000 toward their tuition from their internships, bringing the total tuition and expenses for the program to $18,900 per year. “There isn’t a program like it,” said program director David Gull. “The resort industry, particularly the ski industry, would open its arms to something like this.” School officials had hoped to begin the program this winter, but moved the start date to next September because the school needed more time to recruit students and work with Vermont education officials to become accredited, Gull said. He said St. Joseph chose Killington instead of a Maine resort because of Killington’s large size and its willingness to work with the students, and because housing was available at Rome’s 200-bed facility. Rome said he believes the contract dispute with Green Mountain College will be settled this week. He said college officials told him last week that they would pay him $261,639, the judgment he was awarded in Rutland Superior Court in late July after seeking a $5 million settlement. Saint Joseph’s College was founded in 1912 and has on-campus enrollment of about 975 students. Another 4,000 students take part in the school’s on-site and distance learning graduate programs.