Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 | Volume 210 | Number 16 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Iowa State joins other colleges in innovation alliance By Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com
Richard Martinez/Iowa State Daily
Scott Bruhn, left, executive chef for ISU Dining, serves the Board of Regents and ISU President Steven Leath at a luncheon in the Memorial Union.
The students’ chef Executive chef returns to Iowa roots, oversees ISU Dining
By Richard.Martinez @iowastatedaily.com A nuclear engineering student is carefully cutting carrots. As an employee of ISU Dining, he sees a bowl of diced carrots and a handful of peels. But when Scott Bruhn eyes the bowl, he sees food that will go toward feeding thousands of students at Iowa State. Bruhn, a 1994 ISU graduate in hotel and restaurant management, is now the executive chef for ISU Dining. After graduating, Bruhn mostly worked as a catering chef on the East Coast while attending Johnson & Wales Culinary School. “I’ve done catering for hotels mostly,” Bruhn said. “I also had an experience in fine dining with a French-style restaurant in Chicago.” Originally from Davenport, Iowa, Scott had considered returning to Iowa before, but it was an opening in ISU Dining’s senior management department that finally drew him home. “I always thought about coming back. It’s where I’m from,” Bruhn said. “Soon enough, things fell together nicely and I joined the team January of 2014.” This is the first time that Scott is working for a catering business on the university scale, especially one that feeds close to 35,000 students. As the executive chef, Bruhn oversees Iowa State’s catering services, retail operations, C-Stores and dining halls, meeting with each department weekly. Along with 1,800 student workers, ISU Dining employs several chefs de cuisine to oversee these units. A chef de cuisine — like Ed Astarita, sous chef for the KnappStorm bakery — brings diverse skills to the team. Pastry chefs, another type of chef de cuisine, produce all of the university’s baked goods. However, they also accept orders to make wedding cakes and desserts. Astarita mentioned working on a “3-foot tall cake of the Campanile for a special event for the university.” Included in the bakery’s portfolio are cardinal and gold cupcake displays, birthday cookie cakes and an expansive menu of fondant wedding cakes. “I don’t think people realize there’s a lot more when it comes to feeding students in the dining centers,” Bruhn said. “There [are] a lot of moving parts, but the chefs are great guys to work with. They’re the ones in the trenches making sure things are getting done, ensuring food quality is high.” While Bruhn’s main duties are to lead student workers, sous chefs and dining administrators, he is also called upon to cater special university events. The
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Richard Martinez/Iowa State Daily
Scott Bruhn, executive chef for ISU Dining, plays an instrumental role in operations by leading the various chefs de cuisine around campus. Bruhn oversees the presentation, quality and execution of special luncheons.
Jonathan Wickert, two ISU students and representatives from 10 other universities will present their program in Washington D.C. on how to help lowincome and first-generation graduates with degrees. The University Innovation Alliance — which was created by 11 major research universities including Oregon State, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue University and Iowa State — will focus on retention rates for low-income and firstgeneration students. The alliance will match the $5.6 million that it has already raised in order to create a dialogue between the universities about programs and innovations that are already used at individual universities to help raise retention. “If you look at our nation’s workforce needs and you look at all the talented young people out there who want college degrees, it’s clear that we can do more to help those students achieve their dreams and help them be successful and complete those degrees,” Wickert said. Wickert, senior vice president and provost, said President Steven Leath has championed the “very noble cause.” The project will play out over three to five years, but the universities are already collaborating. “ What’s really special about the alliance is that the universities have committed to sharing between themselves the good ideas they have and the innovations that work,” Wickert said. “Instead of competing against one another, Iowa State and the other 10 schools have agreed to work together on something that fundamentally benefits students.” One of the innovations that Iowa State may implement is using predictive analytics to see how students will perform in their classes and provide them with advising tools that will help them determine which majors in which they would be successful. This innovation is already in place in other universities. One of the innovations Wickert said Iowa State plans to share with the other schools is the university’s plan for learning communities, something Wickert said Iowa State does well. Alma Marquez, senior in chemical and biological engineering, is one of the students accompanying Wickert to the nation’s capitol. She will represent ISU students for the alliance. Marquez, a graduate of East High School in Des Moines and a first-generation college student, said the learning communities were integral part to her success. “I definitely believe that being a part of the learning community helps students get acclimated to Iowa State, and they help with that transition and their overall college success,” said Marquez, a peer mentor for the past two years. Marquez was first involved in the Leadership Through Engineering Academic Diversity learning community that celebrates and helps multicultural students in engineering be successful. There have been times when she’s been discouraged, Marquez said, but the peers in her learning community propped her up. Marquez said the learning communities are more crucial than ever for students to take advantage of because of fewer opportunities to interact with instructors. Learning communities provide a chance to work with peers and mentors and they give students an opportunity to learn about the resources available for them on campus. “As a lot of us know, Iowa
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