By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Encourage students to use each other’s names and pronounce them correctly, and you will honor students and foster a community of learners.

Last month, we discussed getting students involved; this month, we will focus on building community in the classroom. Since the learning process is facilitated by an environment where students feel safe and honored as learners, creating a community is an important task for teachers.

By Audrey Heckwolf

Why is what consumers experience much closer to ordinary than extraordinary? Are we to blame as educators?

For the past 10 years I have made my living as a chef. As a chef, I need to advocate for the importance to possess the ability to provide excellent service more than expected. Too many chefs fail to understand that service is certainly as important—maybe even more important—than delicious food.

By Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE

Deadline to submit efforts in sustainable/green practices that have affected the curriculum is April 1, postmarked.

As we begin 2010 and a traditional time of renewal, CAFÉ and Kendall College are looking forward to presenting the second-annual CAFÉ/Kendall Green Award. One deserving culinary program will receive recognition for its sustainability efforts plus $1,000—proving that sustainability pays!

Patrice Dionot, co-owner and administrative director of L’Academie de Cuisine, Gaithersburg, Md., has been accepted as a member of the board of the Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation (RAMEF) for a two-year term. RAMEF serves as the preferred source of education, training, resources and research for Maryland's hospitality and tourism industry. The aim of the foundation is to improve the hospitality workforce by providing high-quality, low-cost training in food-safety awareness, customer service and management skills, as well as to increase the number and quality of tomorrow’s hospitality workforce by working with high schools to promote and facilitate the Pro-Start culinary and restaurant-management program.

The Denver campus of Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is pleased to announce that Kerstin Kleber has been appointed chair of the International Baking and Pastry Institute located in the College of Culinary Arts.

Kleber will be responsible for ensuring the success of the International Baking and Pastry Institute, which employs a hands-on learning approach to teach aspiring pastry-arts professionals. Facilities are equipped with top-of-the-line equipment, almost $2 million worth of goods and materials, and ovens imported from France.

Last December, the Research Chefs Foundation (RCF) announced the addition of two new scholarships to be funded by CuliNex, LLC. The CuliNex Organic and Natural Foods Culinology® Scholarship is a $4,000 higher-education scholarship for qualified individuals who exhibit a demonstrated interest in developing organic and natural foods. The CuliNex CRC and CCS Scholarship will provide financial assistance in the form of up to two $550 scholarships in 2010 for qualified professionals who meet the stated certification eligibility criteria.

The Professional Culinary Institute (PCI) welcomes Chef Gary Prell as its new president and chief executive officer. Located in Campbell, Calif., PCI opened its doors in 2005 and quickly established itself as a premier training facility in the hospitality industry, winning state, regional, national and international culinary competitions and awards.

“I am so excited to join the team at PCI and to be a part of their future,” Prell says. “The staff and faculty’s passion to impart knowledge and make a difference in the lives of their students is unparalleled.  They are truly successful.”

The Bakery at Sullivan University has teamed up with Visually Impaired Preschool Services Inc. (VIPS) to bring a kitchen learning facility to the VIPS center in Louisville, Ky. A ribbon-cutting took place on Monday, Dec. 14, during which children were invited into the facility to work with Chef Robert Henry on decorating gingerbread houses. Henry will be visiting VIPS at least once per month to work with children in the new kitchen.

The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF), the educational arm of the American Culinary Federation, has chosen eight culinary professionals from across the United States to serve as Apprenticeship Regional Trainers (ARTs). They will maintain initiatives that resulted from the U.S. Department of Labor’s apprenticeship grant, which was awarded to ACFEF in August 2009.

By Victor J. McNulty

To the ACCSC’s Instructor of the Year, a bad student is any good teacher’s job. The trick is to inspire the uninspired.

Gordon Ramsay aside, the days of screaming chefs ruling with an iron fist over the kitchen kingdom has pretty much ended, in the U.S., anyway. We now live in a litigious/PC society where such behavior can get you into hot water, pun intended. If the chef should raise his or her voice, throw an item or mention an employee’s questionable upbringing, the ensuing results would not be worth the momentary satisfaction.

Most people are not motivated negatively, or at least not motivated to please their aggressor. They may even be driven to quit, steal, complain to a superior, vandalize, contact agencies like the Department of Labor and the Better Business Bureau, fist-fight or the crème de la crème (pun fully intended) of contacting the dreaded harassment lawyer. I’ve seen all the above.