Cincinnati State joins celebration of Faculty Club partnership at UC

October 6, 2011

Officials from the Cincinnati Faculty Club, Inc., the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State celebrated the formal launch of a new partnership between the three organizations Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The Faculty Club – an independent organization that provides dining, meeting and other services to members and guests on the UC campus – has contracted with Cincinnati State’s Midwest Culinary Institute to operate the facility. The agreement stipulates that students from both UC and Cincinnati State will be employed in co-op or work-study positions at the Faculty Club, working both in the kitchens and in the front of the house.

“We structured this into a pathway, both in the front of the house and the back of the house,’’ said Richard E. Friedman, president of the Cincinnati Faculty Club Board of Governors.

“For us this is an opportunity for social entrepreneurship,’’ said Cincinnati State President Dr. O’dell M. Owens, during a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony. Dr. Owens, who served nine years on UC’s board of trustees, described the partnership as an example of the type of synergy between the two schools that he would like to nurture.

University of Cincinnati Provost Santa J. Ono said faculty clubs are part of the “heart and soul” of universities because they provide a place for scholars to meet, mingle and share ideas. Ono said he was glad to learn that the UC Faculty Club’s Board of Governors had been taking steps to elevate the level of quality.

As part of the agreement, MCI is providing culinary and management services to the Faculty Club, which is located on the seventh and eighth floors of the Richard E. Lindner Center. The banquet facility is available for meetings, receptions and other events – for University of Cincinnati functions as well as external customers.

MCI has brought in David Robinson to serve as executive chef, Rene Howard to serve as general manager and Michael Fagan to serve as banquet manager.