To express appreciation for their $1.5 million gift, has named its Hotel Management Program in honor of Rita and Navin Dimond.
The gift is the largest personal contribution MSU has received. A significant portion of the gift will create the Dimond Fellowship Program, which will fund 10 student-fellows each year. The recipients will be those preparing for careers in the hospitality industry.
Navin Dimond is founder, president and chief executive officer of the Denver-based , one of the nation’s leading hotel development and management companies.
“Rita and I have a longstanding interest in supporting education,” Navin Dimond said at a table-setting competition and dinner hosted by MSU president Stephen Jordan. “Our fellowship will enable deserving students interested in hospitality to excel in a rich and captivating learning environment. We are hopeful that this program will support all MSU Denver students … who strive to make the world of hospitality a better place.”
Jordan added that he “Can’t think of a better role model in the hospitality industry; (his) values and the legacy are rooted within the hospitality industry’s most respected.”
The Rita and Navin Dimond Hotel Management Program at MSU Denver’s Hospitality Learning Center is the first of its kind in the Rocky Mountain West. It includes a 150-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott hoel; a 28,000-square-foot hospitality learning center and a 5,000-square-foot conference center.
Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock were among those attending the thank-you festivities held at the new
Other guests were Jim Mulligan, a parnter at , and Joan Burleson; such MSU trustees as Jack Pogge, Rob Cohen and Dawn Bookhardt; Carolyn Schaefer Wollard, director of advancement for the ; and Kelly Brough, president/CEO of the .
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@ |denverpost.com or twitter.com/joannedavidson
