The board of trustees of Rancho Palos Verdes-based Marymount College unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Lake County in Northern California to proceed with development of a college campus to be located at the historic Lucerne Hotel. The college’s approval follows the Lake County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous approval June 5.Marymount College plans to begin serving students in the fall, according to president Dr. Michael Brophy. He said the school will be working the next year in the development of curriculum and programs that best serve the needs of students and the community in Lake County.Starting in 2013 and unrolling through 2015, the college will offer bachelor’s degrees for students who have completed their freshman and sophomore years, graduate studies for those students who have completed their bachelor’s degrees, lifelong learning coursework that is not degree-specific and professional development programs. The hotel property can house more than 100 students. Additional students will commute to the campus.Students who enroll at Lake County will also be given the opportunity to attend classes at the Southern California campuses or in the college’s study-abroad programs.The college will also look to the community for opportunities for student internships, academic research and service learning (volunteer work that is integrated with coursework), and it will offer students recreational pursuits unique to the picturesque Clear Lake and surrounding terrain.Enrollment opportunities also exist to bring students from the college’s Southern California campuses to the Lucerne campus for a semester or year, as well as to attract students from the Bay Area and internationally to study at the Lucerne campus.The Lucerne Hotel sits on seven acres, with basketball courts and a swimming pool and views of Clear Lake, California’s largest freshwater lake. Its stately appearance has been refurbished and is fondly referred to as “the castle” by those who liken its peaked roofs and 1920s’ architecture to those of regal Swiss chateaux. The last tenant, the San Francisco Theological Seminary, purchased it in 1968 and then sold it to Lake County in 2010. The county has completed property restoration and improvements since taking ownership.{gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2012/0720/spschools/{/gallery}