NC State Dining offers a unique learning experience to students with a passion for food science and nutrition. The Dining Diplomat Program prepares students for careers in these industries through various collaborative learning opportunities and valuable hands-on experience.
Lauren Smith, registered dietitian and director of nutrition and wellness, oversees the program and works closely with the students each week. “One of my goals is to help students understand the full scope of the role of a dietitian,” said Smith. “There is a lot involved in NC State Dining, and campus dietitians wear a lot of different hats.”
The Dining Diplomat program is a one-credit hour internship course (NTR 492) offered by NC State’s department of food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences. Students in the program meet weekly to discuss different topics within food and nutrition and learn about various campus resources. For example, the meetings have featured guest speakers from Prevention Services, the Career Center, Sustainability and other campus partners to help students develop a thorough understanding of dining in relation to other departments.
The diplomats are also expected to complete 45 hours of relevant work each semester. This includes helping plate food in the catering kitchens for upscale events, working with chefs in the bakery, helping with events in the Teaching Kitchen and dining hall special events such as All Carolinas.
“I always get really cool feedback from the diplomats,” said Smith. “Many students don’t realize how much work goes into these events and they are impressed with everything happening behind the scenes.”
To supplement their required shifts in the kitchens and at events, diplomats also have the opportunity to do work with CBORD (Dining’s menu management system), auditing, content creation for Safe Eats (NC State’s food allergy club), volunteering at the Agroecology Farm and other food and dining-related tasks.
Each internship experience is unique and can be catered toward the student’s professional interests. Diplomats with a passion for a particular aspect of food and nutrition are encouraged to develop and carry out individual projects. For example, students interested in the intersection of dining and Diabetes have created educational content and resources to promote during Diabetes Awareness Month in November.
The diplomats play a key role in quality control for Dining services across campus. When an issue is reported via TxtandTell, Smith will send diplomats to the location for secret shopping. As secret shoppers, diplomats dine at an on-campus location and answer several questions about the quality of their food, customer service, allergy accommodations and other important aspects of their dining experience. Feedback from the shoppers is used to improve and maintain optimal service at dining locations across campus.
The program prepares students for a career in food science and nutrition by giving them a look behind the scenes of dining operations. Smith explained that part of the training process for aspiring dieticians includes an internship with food service rotations. The Dining Diplomat program gives a taste of that experience to students interested in becoming dietitians.
“Students develop an understanding of how a kitchen truly operates and what it takes to feed thousands of people,” said Smith. “They also get to see how purchasing and marketing work and are exposed to the different angles of food and nutrition.”
The internship gives students the chance to develop relationships with food service professionals across campus. The independent nature of the internship enables students to strengthen their time management and organizational skills as well.
Students who are interested in applying for the program can reach out to Lauren Smith at lasmit24@ncsu.edu.