Certified Master Chef® (CMC®) Ronald DeSantis, AAC®, CHE, of Staatsburg, N.Y., began his two-year term as chair of the American Culinary Federation, Inc. (ACF) Certification Commission at the group’s bi-annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 13-14. DeSantis, director of culinary excellence and quality assurance for Yale Dining at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., says he and the commission’s 16 other current members will focus on increasing the awareness and credibility of ACF certification.

“My vision for the commission is to develop and project the message of certification relevance beyond ACF,” DeSantis said. “Members know certification’s value and importance. We need to make the dining public and foodservice employers aware of the value of certified chefs.”

ACF certification is based on education, experience and completion of official coursework and exams. ACF certification credentials distinguish culinary professionals as leaders in the culinary field, and demonstrate skill and expertise to peers and potential employers. Currently, more than 11,500 professionals hold ACF certification.

When the state-of-the-art, 60,000-square-foot Culinary & Hospitality Center opened on the College of DuPage campus in Glen Ellyn, Ill., just west of Chicago in October 2011, culinary-arts and hospitality students got a bonus: a fine-dining restaurant and boutique hotel. The Waterleaf Restaurant, serving lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch, and six-room Inn at Water’s Edge give students in the college’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality program the opportunity to gain real-life experience working alongside professionals.

Guests of the inn discover the comforts of a world-class boutique hotel: from the eco-friendly design and the French doors overlooking a pond surrounded by a lavishly manicured landscape to the vaulted ceilings that allow the room to fill with natural light.

Other amenities include luxurious bathroom touches, wireless Internet, a flat-screen TV and more. Services include private keyed access to the hotel floor and rooms, a concierge lounge serving Continental breakfast daily, bell staff offering luggage assistance, in-room dining service for lunch and dinner available through Waterleaf, and special touches like a nightly turndown service. Nightly rates range from a reasonable $99 to $129. The inn allows College of DuPage students to complete hands-on training in all service areas.

Students dazzled editors representing some of the food industry’s most prominent publications at the 2011 Chefs of Tomorrow™ media dinner held at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Washington in Arlington, Va., on November 9 during the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC) Conference.

The elegant, multicourse dinner in the school’s public fine-dining restaurant, Culinaire, featured innovative use of products from companies represented by Chicago-based Olson Communications, a full-service agency that specializes in delivering innovative marketing-communication strategy to its portfolio of select food-industry clients.

The Culinary Institute of America has announced the creation of the role of provost at the CIA. As the senior academic administrator of the college, the provost is vested with oversight of education, research, accreditation, continuing education and food and beverage operations at all CIA campuses. The provost will report to Dr. Tim Ryan, president of the CIA.

In making this announcement, Ryan also announced that Mark Erickson, CMC, vice president-dean of culinary education at the CIA, will take on this new role effective January 1, 2012. An honors graduate of the CIA Class of 1977, Erickson also holds a bachelor of science degree in restaurant & hotel management from the University of New Haven and a master’s in business administration (MBA) from Marist College. Erickson was a member of the gold-medal-winning United States Culinary Olympic Teams in 1980, 1984 and 1988, and part of the U.S. team that won the 1985 Culinary World Cup.

Kendall College School of Culinary Arts student Tayler Moore, a 20-year old sophomore pursuing his bachelor’s degree in culinary arts, won an all-expenses-paid weeklong trip to experience the foods and flavors of Taiwan in the first cookoff of its kind at Kendall College on Dec. 12. The competition, hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Chicago, highlighted the official launch of Taiwan’s Government Information Office’s multilingual Web site (http://taiwanfoodculture.net) celebrating Taiwan’s diverse foodways. Moore’s winning dish featured a chicken thigh fabricated to resemble a lollipop.

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) proudly announced last autumn that NRAEF ProStart alumna Jazmin Eck was awarded a full scholarship to California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where she planned to begin her education in September. Eck was chosen for the scholarship while attending the 25th Annual NRAEF Salute to Excellence awards held on May 21, 2011, in Chicago.

“The ProStart program unites industry and the classroom to create life-changing opportunities for students,” said Lynette McKee, executive director of the NRAEF. “This was brought to life at Salute to Excellence when Jazmin networked with key industry leadership from across the country and received this incredible opportunity to further her education and career development with our partners at Le Cordon Bleu.”