A Cooking Career:
Visiting
Johnson & Wales
By Jan Aaron
“Typically for a high school graduate, 16-19, admissions
looks at school curriculum, and, in culinary education, food
curriculum, college prep and SAT scores, and work experience,” said
Maureen Dumas, dean of admissions, continuing education, at
Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI, (8 Abbot Park Place;
401-598-2300;02903, www.jwu.edu). Challenges new students face? “Knowing
when to work and play and study,” she added. I recently
interviewed Ms. Dumas by telephone, after looking around J & W’s
RI campus and wondering how it would be to go to school there. “We
have students from the 50 states and 1,000 international students
from countries like Sweden, Turkey and South Korea,” Ms.
Dumas added. The university runs frequent tours for prospective
students.
J & W, founded
in Providence as a business school in 1914, now is a world-class
university, offering students an opportunity to pursue career
education in business, hospitality, culinary arts, or technology.
Scores of majors and degree programs are offered at the undergrad,
grad and doctoral level at six campuses in Providence, Charleston,
Norfolk, North Miami, Denver and Charlotte. Ninety-eight
percent of their students find jobs in their chosen fields,
within 60 days after graduation.
An unusual feature
of Providence’s culinary education
is its focus on nutrition, so much in the news these days. “Providence
is the only culinary school in the nation offering a degree
in culinary arts, accredited by the American dietetic association,” said
Susan Vieira, MS, RN, LDN, nutrition department chairman, in
a telephone interview. (Denver’s nutrition program commences
in September). Indeed, in their first two years, all J & W
culinary students take courses in nutrition and sensory analysis
and personal nutrition. “We turn out chefs who know how
to make gourmet meals healthy, and nutritionists who know how
to make wholesome food taste delicious,” Ms. Vieira added.
In response to the US obesity epidemic, J &W has trained
chefs and managers in nutrition and healthy eating in various
industry segments.
Unique features at
J&W colleges include a 4-day school
week, the opportunity to earn degrees (associate and baccalaureate)
in four years, and hands on training at university owned-operated
or partnership facilities or at world-wide coop sites. Famous
graduates include Food Channel’s Emeril Lagasse.
On campus, the amazing
J&W Culinary Archives and Museum
(401-598-2805; Tues.-Sun., 10-5, 315 Harborside Blvd., www.culinary.org)
packs over a million and half items, representing five millennia
of global history into the world’s largest culinary collection.
See utensils from BC to present, presidential and potentates’ favorites,
silver, china, lunch wagons, diners, and displays of culinary
students’ extraordinary chocolate artworks.#
