New program grooms ski industry managers | A new program at UMFK intends to turn business students into moguls of small ski resorts
Photo/Courtesy University of Maine Fort Kent
Jeff Dubis plans to teach students the ins and outs of managing a small ski area
When winter hits in Maine, the ski industry kicks into high gear. Resorts like Sugarloaf, Sunday River and Saddleback attract skiers from Canada and the rest of New England. According to the Ski Maine Association, the ski industry generates more than $300 million in economic activity in the state.
Often lost in that calculation, however, are the dozen or so small- to mid-size ski areas in Maine that rely on local visitors. Though they only generate a small portion of that $300 million in economic activity, these ski areas are still vital to Maine’s economy: They employ hundreds of Mainers during the winter and feed visitors to the state’s larger ski resorts.
The importance of this sector is not lost on Jeff Dubis, a professor of forestry at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Last semester, Dubis launched a new concentration in the business degree program at the university that he says is the first of its kind in the country. The Winter Sports Management program at UMFK will focus on preparing students for a career in the business of small ski areas.
The Fort Kent campus is a perfect place for such a program. Lonesome Pine Trails, with about a dozen alpine ski trails, is a short walk from campus. Nearby, there’s Quoggy Jo Ski Area in Presque Isle and Big Rock Ski Area in Mars Hill. In addition, the Maine Winter Sports Center hosts world-class Nordic ski races at the 10th Mountain Ski Center in Fort Kent and the Nordic Heritage Ski Center in Presque Isle. “Winter sports here [are] very, very popular, so the program fits in really well with the local economy,” Dubis says.
There are several college programs throughout the country that focus on the ski industry, including a certificate program at the University of Maine at Farmington, but Dubis said those are geared toward ski resort management. The UMFK program is, as far as Dubis knows, the only one in the country that focuses on preparing students to work in the community-based ski industry.
“We’re taking a bit different approach — to look at small- to mid-size ski areas that have their own operating limitations and concerns, in a lot of cases because of the funding,” Dubis says. “A lot of community-based ski areas receive funding from grants and lift passes and community members. They don’t have retail sales, hotels, lodging and restaurants that the larger areas have.”
Dubis hopes the program will create the next generation of entrepreneurial community ski area operators. “We’re training people more for the business aspects than the grunt work,” he says.
Because of the unique nature of community-based ski areas, Dubis has included courses like grant writing. “That’s probably not something you’d be interested in if your focus was working at a large resort,” Dubis says.
The program formally launched last semester, but no students are involved yet because business students don’t choose their concentration until their second year. Dubis, who is also the newly appointed coach of UMFK’s cross-country ski team, plans to recruit program participants over the next several weeks as he travels to ski races throughout the state and region. Once the program is up and running, Dubis hopes to have six to 10 graduates a year. “That would be fantastic,” he says.
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