Marriott center tops at UMass

Daily Hampshire Gazette - April 30, 2007

By Mackenzie Issler

AMHERST - At a gathering Friday at the University of Massachusetts Campus Center, all eyes were on the new look of the 11th floor.

Instead of savoring views of the Valley from the top of the Campus Center, visitors admired the newly refurbished dining area and cooking facilities as the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management marked the completion of the $6.3 million Marriott Center for Hospitality Management.

Rod Warnick, head of the department, said the new center has many purposes, and will not just be used by the hospitality department.

"It is a very nice facility that complements the Campus Center's architecture," said Warnick.

Warnick said that the new dining room will be used for food and menu preparation classes, as well as by UMass and its catering services.

Behind the scenes of the dining room, there is a new state-of-the-art kitchen, which has three areas.

First, there is a production kitchen where food production classes will be held.

A food production lab will be used by a variety of departments, including the nutrition department.

Then there is a beverage management lab, where students will learn about different beverages - such as alcohols, wines and the mixing of different beverages.

The department was in desperate need for a new facility for its students and staff, Warnick said .

The former kitchens the department used were at least 50 years old.

We couldn't do a variety of cooking techniques, now we can do just about every cooking technique," said Warnick.

Warnick said that by having students work together as a team, they will be able to learn all aspects of food-service management.

Once UMass students leave, they will possess basic culinary experience and thoroughly understand what goes on behind the scenes of a restaurant.

This way, he said, they will be able to successfully manage their own business or restaurant some day.

The center was named after the Marriott family, which provided the Isenberg School of Management with financial support for the project through the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation.