Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

August 30, 2002

ISU Dining's evolution continues under new leader

Jon Lewis, the new director of ISU Dining, has the task of merging two ISU food services into one. Photo by Bob Elbert.

by Anne Krapfl
Jon Lewis has a fall semester "to do" list as loaded as any. The new director of ISU Dining, who arrived on campus July 1, needs to finalize an agreement in which Memorial Union food service employees become Iowa State University employees. He needs to develop a master plan for the evolution of ISU Dining over the next five years or so. He also ought to find an answer for an un-Maine-like dilemma: Iowa ragweed allergies.

Lewis spent a dozen years at the University of Maine's Orono campus, opening a new dining center just weeks before arriving in Ames. He appears undaunted by the task ahead of him at Iowa State: merging the food operations (resident dining centers, catering, vending, convenience stores) of the residence department and Memorial Union into one. As announced in April, the merged unit will be a component of the residence department. This decision supersedes one made two years ago, when university leaders opted to try to create a new auxiliary unit within student affairs. Debt loads and debt repayment requirements of the two entities make that setup impossible.

Single employee group
Lewis said he hopes to resolve all the employee merger issues by mid-September. Both residence and Memorial Union groups have prepared a draft of what they'd like to see happen; what remains is resolving any differences.

"For example, I think we've arrived at almost full acceptance of years of service for MU employees who come over to the residence system," he said. "No one will have a lower salary as an ISU employee; a majority will have higher salaries."

The merger affects an estimated 290 employees; approximately 238 who will be in the Merit system and about 52 Professional and Scientific employees. He also said most employees would be doing "essentially" the same kind of work in the new unit as they did in the old.

"There's a place for everyone in ISU Dining," Lewis said. "What also helps is that both employee groups want to get this done and move ahead."

Lewis said he will announce completed merges as they occur. For example, his hope is that a single ISU catering unit will exist sometime early next spring.

Three associate directors will assist Lewis in ISU Dining. Carol Petersen will continue to oversee residence student dining, Karen Larson will manage the merged catering unit and a position review and search is under way for the third component, "retail dining," which includes campus vending and cash dining in the community centers as they open. (Hawthorn Market and Caf at Frederiksen Court is the first; the second, Union Drive, is under construction and scheduled for completion in fall 2003.)

Faculty, staff dining
"Portability" -- a residence student's freedom to use a meal plan at many campus locations, not just in his or her residence building -- is a key issue to tackle in the ISU dining master plan, Lewis said. Achieving portability means adding retail dining operations, which also will create new on-campus options for university employees.

"I think we need two more Hawthorn-size retail operations on campus," Lewis said. "What strategic corners we put them on is something we'll study this fall."

Lewis said he believes a single catering option also will benefit faculty and staff. "Right now, you have to make a decision about who to call, and you may not be sure if that group can help you in the location you want," he noted. "I think people will see lots of benefits, including quality and consistency."

A professional consultant from the Ricca Planning Studios, Denver, will help Lewis develop a master plan this fall. The group is familiar with Iowa State, having completed feasibility studies several years ago as part of a pre-merger study. Ricca also is the group that designed the Frederiksen Court and Union Drive community centers.