About Us

In 1971, the Food service Technology program was established at Anchorage Community College to meet a need for trained cooks and bakers (a need that would become critical during the Alaska Pipeline boom). The next year the program relocated from temporary facilities at McLaughlin Youth Center to its present home in the newly constructed Lucy Cuddy Center.

Many years and many great changes later, program enrollment increased and educational services were expanded to train for a continuing industry need for chefs, pastry chefs, hotel/restaurant managers and dieticians. In 1987-88 Anchorage Community College merged with the University of Alaska Anchorage and in 1991 the Foodservice Technology program became the Culinary Arts & Hospitality/Dietetics & Nutrition division. With increasing industry demand for professionals and to complement the Associate of Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts, the program implemented a Bachelor of Arts degree in Hospitality & Restaurant Management in 2000, and in 1994 the Dietetic Internship was offered.

Today faculty and staff members strive to realize the program’s educational mission to train Alaskans by reaching out to a statewide audience. The division has truly become the Culinary Arts & Hospitality, Dietetics & Nutrition training center for the state of Alaska.  Since 1972, approximately 800 graduates have filled Alaskan jobs from Barrow to Ketchikan. Those jobs range from camp cook to hotel manager and from bartender to health inspector. Currently, 90 students have declared Culinary Arts as their major and 50 students are pursuing the recently implemented Hospitality & Restaurant Management degree. Also, a minor in Nutrition is offered and there are some 700 students from other majors (Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, Early Childhood Development, Medical Laboratory Technician, Nursing and Physical Education) that take dietetics courses each semester. The Dietetic Internship Program prepares five students with Baccalaureates in Dietetics or Foods and Nutrition to apply to take the RD exam.