The Marketplace and Tiger Cooler teem with students, whether in line for pasta made to order or hovering over the conveyor belt of bagels popping from the toaster. What is not often in sight is the college’s faculty — that is, until President Tom Stritikus recently announced the implementation of the Faculty Connections Dining Program. This program, announced via email Oct. 31, allows students to invite a faculty member to a meal paid for by the Office of the President up to three times per semester.
“The program was inspired by a request that came from faculty at a faculty listening session,” Stritikus said. “Faculty spoke about the importance of connecting with students and how a program like this might be beneficial.”
After the idea phase of the program, Stritikus said Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Amos Himmelstein teamed up with Campus Dining to put it into action.
“I was excited by the idea, because I have seen the impact our faculty have on our students and how powerful that relationship is at Oxy, as our faculty do an incredible job mentoring our students,” Stritikus said.
Resident Senior Instructor of Chemistry Anne Yu said that before the program, she would normally have lunch, ice cream or boba with students off-campus because the food on campus was too expensive.
“A lot of the students I end up eating with are students that were in my class, so I get to catch up with them and see what they’re taking, what they’re interested in, what their goals are,” Yu said. “Because I teach a lot of first and second years, I can see how they grow and progress.”
Campus Dining Asst. VP of Hospitality and Auxiliary Services Erik Russell said he worked with Director of Operations Judy Runyon to create the Faculty Connections Dining Program. When checking out, Russell said students tell the cashier that their professor is dining with them as part of the program, fill out a form and turn the form back into a cashier. The cashier then files this form as part of their daily cash reconciliation, billing the Office of the President for the faculty meal, according to Russell.
“In hospitality, everything we do is relational,” Russell said. “Food is a communal experience, and it builds relationships.”
Russell said this program is an avenue for students looking to build community and further relationships with faculty outside of the classroom.
“When students graduate, what’s the first thing they and their families do after commencement? They go have meals. That is what we’re trying to tap into, that sense of community — of sitting down, of sharing a meal with somebody,” Russell said. “It’s a much more personal connection with somebody over a meal than sitting with a faculty member during office hours.”
Yu said she had her first Faculty Connection Dining Program meal on campus with a student the week after it was announced.
“Being able to get together over food is like [having] a neutral space that we’re already familiar and comfortable with,” Yu said.
When she goes into the Marketplace, Yu said she gets the sense of invading a student space.
“In my previous job, we were able to go to the dining hall twice a week for meals […] and that’s really where the community was built,” Yu said. “What I miss about that is I would end up meeting my students’ friends and students that were different majors and non-STEM majors. I got to know a large swath of the college that I would not have known otherwise. The students were completely comfortable just sitting down and eating with anyone.”
Yu said that while it might initially seem awkward to interact in these student-dominated spaces, she encourages the community to make it more normal.
“We are going to have to start publicizing [the program] more and talking it up. I think the culture of the college is that the students aren’t used to talking to their professors outside of class,” Yu said. “There’s a sense of ‘us and them.’”
Beyond getting to know students’ interests, Yu said that a Media Arts & Culture (MAC) lunch event centered around Occidental’s anti-Asian text message scandal in 2022 brought her attention to the lack of connection between students and faculty.
“Two alumni came back, and they said, ‘If this had happened while we were here, we would not have felt comfortable going to our professors to talk about it,’” Yu said. “The fact that they would not have told us really was profoundly disturbing to me.”
Yu said she finds comfort in sharing meals with community members during trying times, such as after the results of the 2024 election.
“Everyone was crying, but it was also comforting that we could talk about it and be there together,” Yu said. “We go through things together.”
Contact Mollie Barnes at mbarnes@oxy.edu
