Following the success of Sullivan University’s culinary team that traveled to Beijing to cook at the 2008 Olympic Games, the school’s National Center for Hospitality Studies (NCHS) based in Louisville, Ky., is proud to announce that it will send another group of students, alumni and faculty to cook for the athletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The group, consisting of one chef instructor, three students and three alumni, will be part of the team providing food service at the two USA Houses, the hospitality centers for the U.S. Olympic Committee, sponsors, athletes and guests.

Twenty foodservice instructors from professional culinary schools across the country will further their cheese education this summer as they tour farms, cheese plants and restaurants in Wisconsin, the country's largest cheese producer.

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.”