FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2007
Contact: Joshua Hollis
662-329-7119

MUW Culinary Arts Institute awarded grant

COLUMBUS, Miss. – The Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation recently awarded Mississippi University for Women’s Culinary Arts Institute a grant for $775,000, which will be used to fund scholarships, student field experiences, a guest chef program, and consulting for the development of a teaching restaurant laboratory.

Dr. James Fitzgerald, director of the Culinary Arts Institute, said, “The Robert M. Hearin Foundation’s generosity and support of our students and faculty at MUW not only help them succeed, but in doing so help Mississippi succeed. Mississippi’s food-based economy is huge. Our successful graduates go on to take jobs in the industry and also go on to earn graduate degrees related to advance food studies; so through this support we become a great part of that economic success story within the state and nationwide.”

The grant will be broken up into four parts: $75,000 a year for 4 years will be used for student scholarships; $50,000 a year for 4 years will be used to fund student field experiences, to allow students to have hands-on instruction and real-world training outside the classroom; $50,000 a year for 4 years will be used for a guest chef program, which will provide for instructors, chefs and scholars to visit the university for lectures and other events.

The final part of the grant, in the amount of $75,000 for 1 year, will be used for design and consulting for the development of a teaching restaurant laboratory.

MUW President Dr. Claudia Limbert said, “Thanks to the support of the Hearin Foundation, our Culinary Arts Institute is able to provide one of the top culinary education programs in the nation.”

Fitzgerald said, “I've learned an old Southern custom of ‘a hug around the neck’ since I have been here. If I could I would show my appreciation to each member of the Hearin Board by ‘hugging them around the neck’ on behalf of the students, faculty and staff at MUW’s Culinary Art Institute.”