Kitchen Cabinet
May 14, 2012
Present: Steve Bennett, Lisa Heldke, Steve Kjellgren, Mark Hanson , Judy Douglas, Bob Douglas, Saskia, Rebecca (representing The Greens), Jeff Stocco, Joe Lenconi, George Elliott
End of the Year Assessment
Members of KC broke into small groups and discussed: Issues KC addressed for the year, the processes we used to do our work, and recommendations for next year. Written feedback was provided to Lisa for summarization.
Nutrition Labeling
Nutrition Labeling is available in hard copy form in The Market Place. It was also brought out at the Well Being Fair this month. The comments at that time were positive with students being appreciative that the information will be available. It has been a fairly soft roll out as there is still hope that the project will be on line which would make it more easily accessible. Joe has been leading the project and with his leaving Gustavus there is question if the project will be picked up by another member of the IT Department. It was noted that the nutrition labeling project can serve many audiences from informing students as to what is in the food, providing nutrition information and helping Dining Service Staff be accountable as to how they are preparing the food and following recipes so that the nutrition information is as accurate as it can be.
Looking Ahead to Next Year
This discussion centered on the money that is available to use for next year from the Coke contract. With the semester winding down, we do not want this to be forgotten over the summer. Steve is willing to present the information in a brief format to faculty before the semester ends. Judy noted that there has been faculty and students working together in the past and it would be helpful to have criteria set up and expectations formed as to how it all would work. Coke also wants to be part of this conversation and how the money is used as they want to capitalize on it as well. Again, this is new way for Coke to do business and it could really be groundbreaking for their company to be a part of the process and not just handing out money. It was also noted that the money needs to be used for the year; it does not get carried over for the next year. It was suggested that there be a summary of the eight points made and that it would be helpful for faculty to know how they can get involved. The question of having an internship was also brought up and it would involve accountability, faculty involvement, credits, etc. It would be ideal to have a conversation over the summer regarding the scholarships, Student Research money and the Sustainability/Health Funding Program. If anyone is interested in being a part of this during the summer, please send Steve an email. Note that most communication would occur via e-mail.
Kitchen Cabinet discussed how the conversations we have are interesting, how can we utilize them and how can we continue to generate the conversation to the whole campus. Could there be something that goes online every month regarding the conversations we are having with decision making. We would like to capitalize on these conversations and get them out to the community as a whole. Bob suggested we have a name for this movement as this is exciting information and we should be able to expound on this and share it with everyone. Rebecca is interested in getting the information out to others – and using several methods – blogging, face book, newspaper, etc. Steve Bennett also noted that we have campus resources such as Kari Eckhart who is trying to coordinate information for the campus as a whole such as Student Health 101 and the Well-being information. The Kitchen Cabinet also suggested that Steve Kjellgren be a part of the First Term Seminar, which would get the message out efficiently to a wider audience.
Kitchen Cabinet wishes to thank Joe and Bob for their input and dedication over the years. They will be greatly missed!
Respectfully submitted: George Elliott