It's a natural fit between California State University, Monterey Bay, and its environs replete with world-class resorts and restaurants.

A new academic program aimed at teaching business students at CSUMB the ins and outs of the hospitality industry is planned to start this fall.

"Our objective is to have the best hospitality management program in the country," CSUMB President Peter Smith said this week. "That's our long-term objective. We are in a place that deserves that."

Though the new program still faces a few internal university hurdles, CSUMB plans to offer bachelor's degrees in hospitality management within five years.

Starting this fall, students will have the option of pursuing business administration degrees with two new areas of concentration: hotel-resort management and hospitality management.

Sandy Hale, chairman of business school, said CSUMB is ideally positioned, literally, to study the hospitality industry's inner workings -- from restaurants to resorts.

"We're starting with assets that very few other areas have," Hale said. "Students focused on resort management would have the chance to intern at Pebble Beach, the Ventana (Inn) or Post Ranch."

Only three other schools in the California State University system -- Cal Poly Pomona, San Jose State and CSU Long Beach -- have hospitality industry programs. The biggest is at Cal Poly Pomona, where 600 students are enrolled in its hotel-restaurant management degree program.

BACKGROUND

The new hospitality-industry program for business students at California State University, Monterey Bay, will be the fourth "area of concentration" offered with business degrees. The others are: management and international business, information systems and entrepreneurship.