FOODSERVICE DESIGN CERTIFICATE COVER STORY
between our hospitality management and design students.” Ann Embry, an instructor at WKU, has since taken over that position, however, Wilson notes she was involved in the planning from the beginning. “We’re excited to introduce a career path that is not necessarily at the forefront of our students’ minds but is very viable and has a lot of opportunity for growth,” says Embry, who is a registered dietitian. “We’re hoping to attract two core markets: individuals out in the workforce and just getting into [foodservice consulting] as a career or maybe who are just getting started and seeking a Certification; the other audience is our current students at Western Kentucky, or those looking at schools and potentially choosing ours because of this offering. Our challenge is to figure out how to work with those two target markets because their needs are very different.”
PILOT PROJECT Sheila Flener, an interior design instructor at WKU was the first instructor for the pilot foodservice design class, with 11 interior design students. “[Te class] was open to all students,
but since we hadn’t been able to announce the Certificate at the time, we couldn’t really recruit from both the hospitality and interior design schools,” Flener says. “Te interdisciplinary nature of the course is a great benefit for the school and the students – seeing how we can help each other in this profession. We’re seeing interest from students in the business and architectural sciences programs.” Wilson says there are about 300 students across the interior design and hospitality schools; Flener will continue to teach the foodservice design and Revit courses as part of the Certificate. Tough the initial foodservice design
course was well-received, Held says the team has decided to switch up the textbook used and add in a few other key learnings.
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The FCSI Educational Foundation has worked alongside the Western Kentucky University team on the development of the certificate program
NATURE OF THE COURSE IS A GREAT BENEFIT FOR THE SCHOOL AND THE STUDENTS – SEEING HOW WE CAN HELP EACH OTHER”
THE INTERDISCIPLINARY
professionals who enroll as non-academic credit web-based learning opportunities for professionals seeking career advancement. WKU administrators plan to launch
“Te first book was more equipment-based; now we’re switching to a more facilities design-oriented book and working with the university to amend some lesson plans.” It’s vital to get the foodservice design class
right, says Embry, because it “is intended to be the Certificate program’s capstone class, which brings together everything the students have learned up until that point and they can put their new knowledge and skills to work in designing a final project.”
FUTURE PLANS It has been confirmed that the FCSI Educational Foundation Foodservice Design Certificate will be available in two forms: Students already enrolled at WKU and who meet the course requirements; and
a robust marketing plan to advertise the class while working with FCSI’s task force to offer the program in a hybrid format to attract current foodservice consultants who want to further advance their learnings – especially in Revit and hospitality. Trough the hybrid program, Wilson
says, students not enrolled at WKU can “take courses online for the majority of the program and then come in for an intensive week or two for the food and cooking and face-to-face portion of the program.” Future students on the program will be able to apply for the Te Jo & John Birchfield Sr. Educational Scholarship, named in recognition of the couple who founded the FCSI EF Golf Scramble and Crab Feast that has contributed over $500,000 to the FCSI EF since its start. Wilson concludes: “We’re really excited
to see how this program turns out, and we know it will be very beneficial to keeping our industry moving forward for the future.”
FOR MORE GO TO
FCSI.ORG
FUZE.COM
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