Northwestern searches for new dining director
Daily file photo by Annabel Edwards
To improve the student’s dining experiences, Northwestern is working on hiring a new dining director. Residential Life asked students on the Residential College Board to interview potential candidates for the position.
January 23, 2015
The Division of Student Affairs is looking to create a new position and hire a University dining director.
This is the second time this academic year that the Division of Student Affairs is conducting the search. The first search during Fall Quarter was unsuccessful, said Paul Riel, executive director of Residential Services.
“We didn’t find the right candidate, so the search was reopened and another group came in,” he said.
The dining director would serve as the liaison between the University and its food providers, Riel said. The director would also be in charge of the catering program and late-night dining options, such as Lisa’s Cafe and Fran’s Cafe.
“Anything that has to do with food,” Riel said. “A lot of it is contract management, a lot of it is working with the provider to make sure we are offering the quality products.”
Weinberg sophomore Colin Repetti, Residential College Board vice president of social affairs, was one of two students who interviewed the two potential candidates for the job. Residential Life offered all of RCB a chance to interview candidates as part of the hiring process.
“I think that there’s a lot of challenges with feeding 4,000 students, but I also think there’s probably room for improvement,” Repetti said. “Especially with Sodexo making a bigger effort to understand the desires of students.”
NU dining halls were voted fifth-best for college food last year, because of events like Noodlepalooza and Tour of Pork, according to food website The Daily Meal.
Emily Chin contributed reporting.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the department hiring the new director. The department is the Division of Student Affairs. The Daily regrets the error.
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