There is one aspect that sets the years you spend at college apart from other years and that would be dorm living. Dorm living also includes using the dining hall. My freshman year I was fortunate enough to live quite near a dining hall, which made it easy to wander over and grab a hot meal. At the time, it was just a part of everyday life, but now after living two years off campus and having to fend for myself, I realize what a wonderful gift the dining hall and its staff provide.
I had the pleasure of talking with Liz Poore, director of Dining Services about what happens behind the scenes.
There are around 900 employees, plus 150 full time state classified, and 40 management and admin professionals that work in Dining Services. There is a large variety of job opportunities, with a variety of student positions and state classified positions.
Clearly it takes a massive team to get everything done. The staff’s day begins at 2 am making pastries and ends the next night at 1 am. There is always something to be done and the staff works extremely hard. “It’s 24/ 7 days a week operation and the staff do a super job keeping up with all the demands of the students,” explained Poore.
And when the students are not there they continue to work hard, doing in-depth cleanings on the equipment, including things like cleaning the walls and scrubbing everything down are done at this time.
Over breaks the they handle catering for orientation and other groups that use our facilities. They work with various groups across campus for catering.
Much of the food in the dining halls, such as produce and fruit, is cut by hand in the facilities and a majority of the food served is made from scratch. What isn’t eaten, if possible, is donated to the local food bank.
CSU is known as being very sustainable and the dining hall does their best to mirror those values. They pulp most of the food that comes back uneaten on the tray accumulator, use a bio digester in the Foundry, and use compostable disposables when it is a to-go meal. All this helps control the amount of waste. They also purchase energy efficient equipment when a piece needs replaced or renovated.
Poore explained that despite the hard work, one of her favorite parts of the job is seeing students be successful. “When students complete their education and graduate it definitely fulfills our mission,” Poore stated.
Staff and faculty are also welcome in the dining halls. They can purchase meals and use their Ram Cards just like students. The dining facilities also have a program where students with meal plans can take a faculty member to lunch every Wednesday. This provides a way for students to connect with professors over a meal.
Catering to staff and students at the university is hard work and time consuming, but everyone on the team does it with a smile and it shows. Through something as simple as food they create comfort and a sense of normality for our community.
