Week #3

I cannot believe it is already the end of the third week, it has flown by!  Tuesday I had the chance to work with Lauren Roysten of Talent and Organizational Development (TOD).  There I was able to see the developmental component of housing and food services.  We composed some pieces for the newsletter, went over her daily tasks, and discussed what she does overall.  I learned that TOD is responsible for expanding, recognizing, staff development, training structure of job progression, etc.  I really enjoyed my day with Lauren!  I also spent some time with Rayanna Reidy.  She described herself as a liaison between the housing and the food service areas.  Rayanna explained to me the different aspects of her job which include residence life, athletic catering, faculty planned events, and more.  It was really interesting learning about how she keeps things in-house and works with so many different people.  

During my third week I have started to develop my employee in-service project and my business plan event.  These will both take place in February which I am very excited about.  I have also been working on my other projects as a part of the internship, while at the same time creating parts of the food allergen action plan for Dot and specific allergen plans for areas in Couch. 

Week #2

Hi again! It is the end of my second week and time is flying by.  During this past week I worked in Couch Restaurants and was able to see the different roles of a manager and a variety of tasks completed, such as production, inventory, purchasing, receiving, and storage.   I worked closely with Sam Ford (General Manager), Marcia Musser (Operations Manager) and Gary Knodel (Executive Chef) in order to see what they do and how they manage to keep the each of the restaurant operations running smoothly.  I have attended multiple meetings this week that have given me a better insight about managing food services.  I really enjoyed being a part of the new hiring plans for Couch; I have never seen how that works so it was very educational and interesting to me.  Sam and Marcia also assigned me a project while I was with them to create food allergen policies for each of the operations in Couch.  Each handout will be specific for the certain place it is made for.  This project has allowed me to become more familiar with each dining area and the staff working there.

I have really enjoyed my second week with OU Housing & Food Services.  Working in Couch for a week was great because I was able to become acquainted with the employees and feel more comfortable working my way around.  I had the opportunity to work with the managers and numerous supervisors within the operations, which was very informative ad at the same time fun.  Everyone has been so friendly and willing to educate me on what it is that they do.  I look forward to my future weeks here!

Hello Everyone! (Week #1)

For those of you of you who I have not me, my name is Devon Walker.  I am from Colorado and recently moved to Oklahoma this past August (I have loved living in Norman so far)!  I will be completing my management rotation with OU housing and food for the next nine weeks, which I am really excited about.   Everyone has welcomed me with warm smiles and made me feel very comfortable.  I can already tell that I am going to thoroughly enjoy my time here.  I am thrilled I get the opportunity to learn from experienced management employees within this setting.

During my first week at OU housing & food services I was able to get an overall picture of the management process, which will help for the remaining eight weeks here.  I have been going through the orientation process and reading over materials regarding management.  I have also had the chance to meet with Shawn Henry (Director of Retail Operations) and Robert Weaver (Director of Board Operations) to ask questions and get a better understanding of what they do. It was interesting hearing the different roles of management within the OU organization.  As one of my projects with Dot Flowers, I began working on an OU food allergy action plan.  I found this pretty interesting reading about what other schools have done and applying the information to meet OU standards.  Thursday, I was able to attend a manager’s meeting, which was extremely helpful.  I was able to put faces to names and listen in on what each person does to help keep the operations running smoothly.

I had a great time my first week meeting different members of the OU housing & dining team.  It has also been really nice eating lunch at the Couch restaurants with Dot each day! :)