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Around the Campus

Rick Johnson Retiring Cortland’s Benedict Receives Award

ick Johnson, associate vice eremy Benedict, quality improvement and
Rpresident for Student Af- Jtraining coordinator with the Auxiliary Ser-
fairs at Duke University in vices Corporation (ASC) at the State University
Durham, N.C., is retiring after of New York at Cortland, is a recipient of this
a 42-year career in hospitality year’s Sani Award for his efforts in the develop-
and higher education. ment and implementation of the Food Safety
Johnson is known to be an Training Program on campus.
innovator in the area of cam- The Sani Professional Food Safety Advisory
pus dining. He and his team Council, a company interested in the health
built the Virginia Tech dining and safety of food service and the prevention
program into one of the best in of community-associated infections, presents
the nation, being named twice the award.
No. 1 by the Princeton Review and receiving the Benedict commented that the training program on campus has
coveted Ivy Award. “focused heavily in the past five years on training knowledge reten-
Under his leadership, West End Market, the first tion, food safety/sanitation and many other foodservice/customer
fully developed marche concept on a university cam- service-related topics.”
pus, won numerous awards. More than 60 universities The program assesses its own training efforts through the use
and most of the national contract providers visited of anonymous surveys at the end of each class. Each semester,
West End Market, according to Johnson. Several approximately 200 students and 15 regular employees attend Bene-
universities used West End Market as a model for dict’s food-safety orientation and refresher training as part of their
their own renovations. employment with ASC. This keeps hundreds of thousands of meals
After 17 years at Virginia Tech, Johnson was safe for consumers on campus.
appointed to his current position at Duke with re- Benedict will be presented with the national award at the 2017
sponsibility for Housing, Dining and Residence Life Food Safety Summit in Rosemont, Ill., on Wednesday, May 10, 2017,
(HDRL). He was brought in to provide new vision and will be part of a Q&A panel for all national award winners in
to HDRL, which included reviving a dining program food safety on May 11, 2017.
that needed new direction. After six years of intensive
efforts Duke Dining was named No. 1 by the Daily
Meal and the West Union renovation received several
national awards and recognitions.
USC Café Reaches Sushi

Production Milestone

uesday, April 4, 2017, was a milestone day for
TJim Ellis as he celebrated his 10th year as dean
of the USC Marshall School of Business at the Uni-
versity of Southern California in Los Angeles. It
also marked a day of record sushi production at the
campus’ Fertitta Café.
Ellis’ namesake sushi roll was made available to
members of the Marshall community,
pushing production 384 percent above
customary levels since the venue’s
opening on August 22, 2016. The Dean Kris Klinger, assistant vice presi-
Ellis Roll is one of 14 menu options dent of retail operations of Auxiliary
at the walk-up sushi bar at Fertitta Services, was pleased with the huge
Café and features salmon, cucumber turnout. “This is a great day for Dean
topped with melting sauce and srira- Ellis, and we are proud to serve the
cha powder. Marshall community,” he said. “They
Anticipating a large turnout, production began prior to the have been great partners, and we look forward to providing
café’s regular opening time of 11 a.m. to meet the elevated craveable, healthy and socially responsible cuisine to Marshall’s
demand. The Marshall community came out in full force, keep- students, faculty and staff for many years to come.”
ing the sushi chefs, cashiers and management team on their In addition to sushi, stations at Fertitta Café feature Pho,
toes. While waiting in line, many sent anniversary wishes to Ramen, Bahn Mi, Dim Sum, Shumai and many more favorite
Dean Ellis using a special Snapchat filter created by USC Asian dishes, to cater to guests’ sophisticated and cultured pal-
Hospitality in his honor. ates. A variety of Asian snacks and desserts are also available.

4 | APRIL 2017 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY