People outside the hospitality and tourism industry may not realize what a coup it was for Oregon State University-Cascades Campus in Bend to land the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration’s executive education program, the first installment of which launches here Aug. 19.

For people in the hotel and restaurant industry, Cornell’s programs are internationally known and highly regarded. For hospitality professionals locally, the courses present a huge learning and business opportunity to tap gold-standard instruction. More broadly, Cornell’s program will put Bend and OSU-Cascades on the map among hospitality professionals outside the area and state, many of whom could travel here multiple times for Cornell’s various courses.

Association with an Ivy League school is a big step for OSU-Cascades and Bend. It’s now a matter of marketing Cornell’s presence here. The first course will have 11 mostly local students, with more outsiders expected as future courses are timed during slower months, when more managers can get time off to travel to Bend.

“Their executive courses have just got a great reputation,” said Bend restaurateur Gavin McMichael, who will be among those paying almost $1,900 for the first course, “Strategic Marketing for Hotels and Restaurants.” McMichael, who owns The Blacksmith restaurant and is managing partner of the new Bourbon Street Sea and Soul Food restaurant, says the timing is perfect. “I spend a lot of time on strategy — that’s really what it’s all about these days and in this economy.”

Tom Kline, executive director of executive education for Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y., said the courses deliver almost half an academic semester of content in three days. Needless to say, the program’s intensive. The courses will be taught by Cornell’s “A- list” executive education faculty, he said.

Practically speaking, this is Cornell’s first West Coast program offering open enrollment. It planned a Los Angeles program in 2002, but after 9/11 ravaged the tourism industry, the program never got off the ground. The only other U.S. location for open enrollment is in Ithaca.

So why Bend for Cornell-West?

Christine Coffin, director of communications and outreach for OSU-Cascades, said Cornell’s desire for a West Coast presence for its program and OSU’s desire to make itself relevant and distinctive proved a timely match, “and of course hospitality is a big part of Oregon’s economy and Central Oregon’s economy.”

At the same time, OSU-Cascades is launching a hospitality undergraduate management program as an option within its business degree program. The courses, taken in a student’s fourth year, start with the fall term, Sept. 27. The courses dovetail nicely with Cornell’s program for hospitality industry executives, creating multiple levels of training in an industry key to this region’s economy.

Bend was a good fit for Cornell’s intense program, Kline said, likening Bend to Ithaca. “Here (in Ithaca), the travel to the campus, getting away from distractions and being in an environment that’s focused on learning is a real positive for executive development,” he said. Bend offers beauty, better air service and “… the benefit of being more in an enclave, which is great for learning.” That focus is critical because “the content of this program is not lightweight,” Kline said.

Ron Lybeck took three Cornell courses in 1997 and ’98 when he was managing top-end restaurants in New York City. Now a Bend resident, Lybeck, 56, said the courses were hugely helpful, providing him the inspiration and business and staff-motivation tools he needed. “In all of our jobs, there is that moment when refreshment is just really timely,” he said. Like many here, he made a lifestyle move to Bend. He managed restaurants before choosing “feeding the spirit as opposed to my bank book.” He’s happily waiting tables at 900 Wall and Trattoria Sbandati.

Heidi Berkman, a consultant to OSU helping coordinate the Cornell program, is excited about its future in Bend — and I couldn’t agree more. OSU-Cascades and Bend deserve an A+ for landing it.

Cornell’s next courses are in January. For details, see www.osucascades .edu/cornellexecprogram/courses.