New Proposal for SNHU Culinary

Students who had signed the Change.org petition to “Save SNHU Culinary” may have re­ceived an email update on Feb­ruary 18 with new information regarding Michael Evans’ pro­posal.

After the open forum held with the SNHU Community, it appeared as though the goal would be to look into new ways to cut costs of the SNHU Culi­nary program while not elimi­nating it completely.

Jon Talbot, creator of the petition, posted an update from Michael Evans that featured a brief letter of introduction to the SNHU Culinary students. I

n addition to attaching a link to his own proposal, Mi­chael Evans writes that the “the process going forward allows the Culinary faculty, the profes­sional employees association, the Faculty Senate, and the Dean of the School of Business to give the President their own recom­mendations within the next three weeks” who will ultimately make the decision on March 10.

The program proposal “recommend[s] that we teach out the current approach to Cu­linary and replace it with a new, two-year Associate’s Degree program in ‘Culinary and Bak­ing Arts.’”

The first year will feature general education and culinary skills courses, while the sec­ond year will enable students to hold paid, year-long internships while completing the remainder of their general education cours­es online.

This proposal suggests many benefits to both culinary stu­dents and SNHU, stating for example that Culinary students will receive a more hands on ed­ucation while also gaining more opportunities to build up their resumes and network.

Additionally, the proposal claims that only will this new proposal make SNHU culinary students more marketable, it will lower the program’s cost, which was the initial problem to this situation. Students will not complete their second year on campus, as they will be in year long internships. This means the school is able to cut down costs through downsizing faculty and kitchen space.

This proposal will also add some competition to SNHU’s culinary school. Students will get real world experience dur­ing college, in a professional industry for their associate’s de­gree and then have the option to continue to their bachelor’s de­gree in business, which is often paired with culinary anyway.

“The new approach to Cu­linary should go beyond a new curriculum,” Evans said. “We should make the program more attractive and relevant by devel­oping or strengthening corollary programming that will enhance the educational experience, of­fer networking opportunities, take advantage of our energetic alumni, and provide opportuni­ties that will help students de­velop useful skills.”

Taking the input, concern, and suggestions of the SNHU Community into mind during this time of change and tran­sition has been a critical way to ensure that SNHU students have a say and impact on their university.

Michael Evans has dem­onstrated a level of care and commitment to the students he serves, and we hope that the fu­ture of SNHU allows Culinary students to keep serving up the best.