News / Notes

 

Top Culinary Program Renamed for U.S. Ambassador to Italy

 

Grand Rapids Community College's Hospitality Education Department, after 27 years, becomes the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., November 19, 2007 - The Hospitality Education Department of Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) last month became the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education in honor of former U.S. Ambassador and area restaurateur Peter F. Secchia.

 

Rededication of the department followed an undisclosed endowment by the Secchia family to fund expansion of GRCC's hospitality-training facility to include a state-of-the-art kitchen amphitheater, ground-breaking for which is slated for late 2008.

 

"GRCC's hospitality program is an extremely valuable asset to our community, as well as the nation," Secchia said. "It's very important to help the program continue to produce superbly trained culinary and hospitality graduates well into the future."

 

Secchia, who for decades has served as a leader in regional and national politics, was a close personal friend and advisor to the late President Gerald R. Ford. In 1989, Secchia was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Italy, a post he held through the end of Bush's term of office in 1992. Secchia retired five years ago as chairman of Grand Rapids-based River City Food Company, which owns several multiunit restaurant brands throughout the United States. Additionally, he cofounded the West Michigan Academy for Hospitality Sciences, a charter school for the restaurant and hospitality industry serving high-school students in their sophomore through senior years.

 

The dedication of the Secchia Institute on Oct. 18 was marked by a fund-raising gala that transformed the institute's banquet rooms into an Old World piazza, with serving stations manned by GRCC culinary- and baking/pastry-arts students and showcasing authentic regional Italian foods and beverages. Students built a working fountain from clay bricks to serve as the rooms' focal point, and Giuliano Bugialli, acclaimed cooking teacher, public-television celebrity and cookbook author based in New York and Florence, Italy, conducted cooking demonstrations for more than 400 guests. The gala-the first fund-raising event in GRCC's history-raised nearly $200,000, which will also help fund future development of the institute, according to Andy Bowne, Ed.D., executive director of the GRCC Foundation.

 

"The Secchias have been tremendous leaders in our community and the region," said Juan Olivarez, president of GRCC and the GRCC Foundation. "They've given so much to our community. And, having their name permanently associated with GRCC and our nationally recognized program is truly an honor."

 

GRCC's Hospitality Education Department was founded in 1980 to provide unparalleled culinary, baking/pastry and hospitality-management education to students from throughout North America. Enrollment in the department in its launch year was 37; in 2007, enrollment was 520-double that of just five years ago. The culinary-arts, culinary-management and baking-and-pastry-certificate programs are accredited by the American Culinary Federation.

 

"Our vision from the outset has never changed: to be known as one of the premier culinary-training programs in the United States," said Randy Sahajdack, director of the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education. "Our administration and faculty have worked really hard to achieve that goal. Their efforts, with support from the college, the community and the foodservice industry, have put us on the map."

 

According to Sahajdack, the institute's new kitchen amphitheater will seat 50 and showcase the latest in electronics technology. The classroom will be used daily for lecture and skills-building demonstrations, as well as instruction in the curriculum's growing food-science emphasis. Additionally, guest chefs will address students in the new space, which will also be used to tape cooking and wine instruction from faculty and visiting celebrities for broadcast on cable television throughout the Midwestern United States.

 

Other plans include a laboratory dedicated to meat fabrication and foodservice operations and training in GRCC's planned lifelong-learning center.

 

"We will ensure that we have the latest and greatest environment for teaching and learning to occur," Sahajdack said. "It's a very exciting time to be a student at the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education."

 

Grand Rapids Community College, established in 1914, offers liberal-arts and workforce-development degrees, classes and workshops. Student enrollment at the urban campus for both credit and non-credit courses was approximately 26,000 in 2007.

The Hospitality Education Division of Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC), Grand Rapids, Mich., on Oct. 18 was renamed the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education to honor Grand Rapids restaurateur Peter F. Secchia. Secchia, who in 2007 endowed the 27-year-old culinary-training program for future expansion, served as U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1989-93. Pictured (l. to r.): Randy Sahajdack, director, Secchia Institute for Culinary Education; Giuliano Bugialli, cooking teacher, television personality and author, New York; Secchia and wife, Joan Secchia; and Robert B. Garlough, professor and chef emeritus at GRCC. Photo credit: Derek Devries.