Clark College cooks up changes to culinary facilities

Although the renovated programs will occupy their current footprint in Gaiser Hall, the public section consisting of the cafeteria and dining room will be flipped with the current kitchen. Moving the public spaces to the building’s northwest corner will provide exterior exposure, thus boosting its exterior profile and accessibility.

After the remodel, the northwest entrance to Gaiser Hall will feature the bookstore to the left and the culinary program’s public spaces on the right.

“Students and community members would be aware of the program,” said Genevieve Howard, dean of Workforce, Career and Technical Education at Clark College. “We would operate a small restaurant and a cafeteria, but it would have a more modern look to it — cook-to-order items, salad bar, rotating cuisine in kiosks.”

In addition, the all-new space will include classrooms for both programs.

The goal is “to revamp and realign the program with industry needs with a multitude of learning opportunities,” said Howard.

To get inspiration for the renovation, Howard visited the culinary programs at Bellingham Technical College, Renton Technical College and South Seattle Community College.

Shifting focus

A task force created to study the issue and to make recommendations concluded that the culinary program needs to shift away from a production focus that was necessary as the main provider of food service on campus.

With the new model, campus food service will be provided by both the culinary program and local outside vendors. That will allow the culinary program to incorporate more skill development, demonstration and theory, Howard said.

The task force also recommends moving away from the current production-focused model to a hybrid of demonstration and production methods to create a more balanced learning environment.

In the past, the dining room’s limited hours did not accommodate students with afternoon and evening classes. In the new model, the public hours would be expanded.

Getting started

Earlier this fall, the Clark College board of trustees approved the use of $2 million in the board’s reserves to get started on the culinary remodel on the condition that the college replenish the reserves by 2020.

At its Dec. 3 meeting, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges approved the use of the college’s reserves for the remodel.

“A large chunk of it is for redesign and engineering,” Williamson said.

Clark College has applied for certificate of participation, which is like a line of credit of up to $8.5 million from the state treasury to fund capital projects, Williamson said. That has to be approved by the Legislature in 2015 as part of the budget. The college would have to pay the money back over time.

But even if the certificate is approved, “it doesn’t mean the college is necessarily going to spend $8.5 million on the project,” Williamson said. “We are very hopeful that in the time it takes going through the planning and design process, our foundation will find donors who are interested in this project.”

Ultimately, that would decrease Clark’s costs even further. Williamson said the money will cover the cost of construction and new equipment for the program and not on hiring faculty.

The renovation should be complete by late fall 2016.