Terry Baker: Healthy attitude

At a Glance

Accomplishments

Terry Baker has transformed dining services at Oklahoma State University by:

Although it is difficult to rank such things, University Dining Services (UDS) at Oklahoma State University might just be the most proactive school in the nation when it comes to health, wellness and sustainability. Under the guidance of Director Terry Baker, UDS has implemented an array of award-winning programs designed to support either the physical health of the students or the environmental and economic health of the community.

From Farm to University Dining, which took the grand prize in Oklahoma State’s first Creativity Challenge in 2008, to its Choose Orange program, which helped UDS win gold in NACUFS’ 2013 Nutrition Awards competition, Baker’s leadership has paid big dividends for dining services and its student customers. (The Creativity Challenge is a universitywide competition designed to inspire students and employees to come up with ideas to “make OSU a national leader in creativity and innovation,” according to the university.)

Related:Confessions of Terry Baker

Robert Snead, assistant director for UDS, says the department feeds off Baker’s energy and drive.

“Overall, her multitasking and organizational skills are amazing,” Snead says. “It seems like we have a million things we have to accomplish, and yet she’s always on top of things. She always knows what’s going on with the management staff. Although she delegates, she’s not someone who sits back and lets things happen. She’s always around, very much in the mix.”

For her part, Baker says the programs she has championed are simply the result of her trying to give student customers what they are asking for.

“Students are more interested in what they eat and where it comes from,” she explains. “They really want to know whether it’s sustainable or healthy for them. We’re just trying to provide them with that information.” 

Foodie road trips 

Baker, a native of upstate New York, says she fell in love with food after a “favorite aunt” chose her to be a traveling companion for a series of vacations to Europe and the Caribbean.

“We traveled a lot and I got to experience foods in different parts of the world,” Baker recalls. “It really opened my eyes to the different flavors and experiences you can have.”

Baker earned an undergraduate degree in food and beverage management from Cornell University and took a foodservice job at SUNY-Brockport, outside of Rochester, N.Y. She worked at Brockport for 20 years, while earning an MBA from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester. 

Seven years ago, Baker relocated to Oklahoma, working for a school district for one year before getting the job as director of UDS at Oklahoma State. She came in with a hands-on approach to making Oklahoma State a healthier campus. 

One of her first initiatives, in collaboration with Veda Hsu—then an assistant foodservice manager and now the manager of operations at Kerr-Drummond Dining—was Farm to University Dining, which started in 2008. The proposal reflected Baker’s and Hsu’s belief in the value of supporting the local economy and educating students about sustainability. 

That proposal has morphed into three related programs: Farm Fresh, Made In Oklahoma and Farmers’ Markets. In 2012, UDS spent one-third of its budget on sustainable foods—$100,000 of it on organic or Fair Trade items—and $1.8 million on items grown, made or processed in the state. 

Farm Fresh introduces students to a variety of locally grown items, by incorporating them in menu items, offering students samples and providing them with nutritional information and even recipes incorporating the foods. Made In Oklahoma brings individual vendors onto campus each month to meet with students and talk about their products. Farmers’ Markets are held every Thursday from August through October on the plaza of the Student Union. This year, six farmers and one local jewelry maker sold their wares.

The healthy options

UDS has focused on healthful dining since 2007, when the department rolled out Choose Orange, an identification system that highlights healthful foods. Orange tags—orange is one of the university’s colors—identify better-for-you foods, as defined by U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines. But the program received a financial boost in 2011, when UDS received two grants to help fund healthy initiatives. 

“A couple of years ago I was just looking at what was coming along the horizon regarding wellness and I thought we could find some grant money out there to help us get started,” Baker says. “I actually applied for one grant, which we found out we didn’t qualify for, but discovered that we were eligible for another grant, which we did receive.”

That grant, ironically, was from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. The money came from proceeds of a multistate lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

“Once we got that grant, which was for three years, we got another grant from the Merrick Foundation (a local philanthropic organization dedicated to wellness in Oklahoma), which had matching funds,” she adds. “That really helped us get some of the things we needed to really kick off the program.”

Part of the grant money was used to hire Cass Ring as nutrition coordinator. Under Ring’s guidance, UDS has put together an aggressive program that includes disseminating nutrition information, healthy cooking demos by UDS chefs and monthly cooking classes given by Ring herself. 

“We know that we’ll never get rid of burgers and fries,” Baker acknowledges. “But if we can provide foods with really exciting flavors, whether international or local, that are healthier, then students will gravitate to the healthier choices.”

The most ambitious part of the program was introduced this fall, when UDS launched a labeling system for all of its grab-and-go items that provides nutrition and allergen information for every packaged food prepared on campus—more than 800 items. Baker says the new system, spearheaded by Assistant Director Snead, took two years to complete. 

“We created the nutritional label program as a way to help educate students about healthy eating lifestyles, by providing them the information they need to make better choices,” Baker explains.

Student Union upgrades

The year 2011 was a busy one for UDS. Not only did the department begin ramping up its wellness and sustainability programs, it also put the finishing touches on a $16 million overhaul of foodservice in the Student Union, part of a $64 million refurbishing of the 65-year-old building. UDS designed a 10-unit food court that offers a mix of national and local franchises, as well as UDS’s own brands.

“This really transformed a facility that was very tired,” Baker says. “We brought in some really good self-branded concepts along with some well-known franchises.”

The self brands include Passport, which features a rotating mix of global cuisines; Bread and Beyond Deli, which offers 42 different sandwiches and paninis made to order; Hot Dog Cart; Mambo Italiano; and Red Earth Kitchen, which focuses on locally sourced ingredients for its menu of comfort foods. There is also a c-store called Union Express.

The restaurant brands are Chick-fil-A, Caribou Coffee, Jamba Juice, Baja Fresh and Johnny Rockets.

“Our approach with the redesign was to include student input from the beginning and put together a lineup of concepts that reflect what students are experiencing in the outside world,” Baker notes. “We wanted to take a more global view of foodservice, while also finding ways to incorporate more of our local and sustainable products.

“Overall, I think the students really have embraced our program,” she adds. “They always speak well of it in our focus groups, especially what we’ve done with healthy dining. And when you get recognition from your peers, that makes it even better. I was really pleased and honored that we received [NACUFS recognition] this year.”