West Virginia Universitys Dining Services has captured gold, and students and employees are reaping the benefits.
Its HealthyUprograma recipe of low-fat, low-calorie menus mixed with educational activities and dietary counselingrecently won the National Association of College and University Food Services Loyal E. Horton gold award. WVU beat out more than 160 entries in the residence hall dining multiple concepts/outlets category for large schools.
WVU Dining Services also took first place in the associations nutrition month competition. During March, it presented a variety of programs at dining rooms and other venues. These included Nutrition Jeopardy, a health fair and a program calledPassport to Healththat allowed students to sample healthy dishes created by WVU chefs.
We are truly committed to serving and educating the students of WVU ,said David Friend, director of Dining Services.And while these awards are a welcome recognition of our efforts, we cant afford to rest on our laurels. We are spending the summer renovating facilities (Hatfields in the Mountainlair) and tweaking our service delivery to make sure we are ready for the freshman class arriving this fall.
An outgrowth of the Universitys wellness initiative established by WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr., HealthyUis being considered for the National Association of College and University Food Services grand prize, to be announced at the organizations annual conference this week in Toronto.
Staff dietitian Nettie Puglisi was invited to make a presentation about the program at the conference attended by hundreds of food service professionals from colleges and universities across the nation.
The HealthyUprogram was selected because it brought an important topic to theView from the Topeducational series,she said.
Others are taking note of the program as well. Just last month, Puglisi spoke about HealthyUat the Tastes of the World Chef Culinary Conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
WVU Dining Services on the Net:http://www.wvu.edu/~dining/