FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2010
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@pa.muw.edu
MUW signs agreement with National Restaurant Association
COLUMBUS, Miss. – An articulation agreement recently signed between Mississippi University for Women’s Culinary Arts Institute and the National Restaurant Association will give the university a statewide and regional presence as well as an opportunity to recruit more students.
“We become the culinary school in Mississippi,” explained Dr. William “Bill” Mayfield, dean for the School of Professional Studies. “It puts us on the national recruiting stage equal to Clemson and Cornell.”
The agreement also gives MUW access to the 13 Mississippi schools that offer the ProStart program, which is the career-building program for high schools students who are interested in culinary arts and foodservice management.
Mike Cashion, CAE, executive director of the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association, was on hand to represent the National Restaurant Association.
He said, “We are pleased to be a formal partner with Mississippi University for Women’s Culinary Arts Institute. Each year, the ProStart program graduates students seeking to further their culinary education. This partnership with the Culinary Arts Institute will provide Mississippi students with the opportunity to receive a great culinary education without having to leave the state."
Chef Erich Ogle, interim director of MUW’s Culinary Arts Institute, said, “This agreement is a great opportunity for the Culinary Arts Institute, MUW and the ProStart students in the state of Mississippi.”
The Culinary Arts Institute, which is an institute of the School of Professional Studies at MUW, is the only culinary institute in the state and the only one in the region that offers a B.S. in culinary arts. It was started in 1996 and the first seven students were admitted in the fall of 1997.
Currently, MUW is ranked seventh among Southern institutions for its strong commitment to teaching by U.S. News & World Report.
For more information about the School of Professional Studies, call (662) 329-7152.
