Cousart takes charge of campus dining

For the past couple weeks, Laurie Cousart has been chatting with students on Locust Walk, chowing down in the dining halls, racing across campus between the Business Services and Dining Services offices and researching from home with her puppy, Max.

As the new head of Penn's Dining Services, Cousart has a big task ahead of her.

"Right now, I'm trying to come up to speed really fast," she said.

Since food service management company Aramark was hired by the University last summer to run and revitalize Dining Services -- which has encountered severe financial and structural obstacles over the past several years -- it has been conducting an extensive survey of students' eating habits, dining options on and off campus and financial issues.

So far, about half the necessary data has been collected.

"They're showing us that there certainly have been changes in the needs of campus dining from several years ago," said Cousart, who worked at Penn for 15 years as telecommunications director. "I think that's the trend across campuses.

"There is very much a culture of moving very quickly across campus and wanting to have services available where you are as you move across [campus].... That may be somewhat different from what we have today."

She added that not only will efforts focus on availability, good food and a comfortable environment in the dining halls, but they will also address other concerns that have arose, including meal plan flexibility.

"We have heard very clearly from the student surveys and from the [Undergraduate Assembly] that people are interested in a change in" the current meal plan system, Cousart said. "There's also a significant number of students who like the all-you-can-eat option, so we're looking for a balance."

Cousart assumed her contract/relationship manager position two weeks ago, following the departure of Peg Lacey, the former director of campus dining services, on Oct. 31.

Officials said the University's hiring of Aramark last summer influenced the recent personnel shift.

According to Business Services spokeswoman Amy Johnson, the new position is "really somebody to help be a liaison between us and Aramark, as opposed to somebody designed to be an executive director of the program including the staff of people from the University side."

The new position was posted in mid-September, and Cousart accepted it on Nov. 11.

"It happened pretty fast," Cousart said.

Currently working on a part-time basis, Cousart will begin her full-time job in mid-December and start forming ties with the campus retail planning group.

"I want to make sure that as plans are made for various campus retail, we want to do it with the Dining Services program at the same time so they are not working against each other," she said.

In addition to her time as a Penn staffer, Cousart spent her undergraduate and graduate years here, where she studied History in the College of Arts and Sciences and Management at the Wharton school.

Cousart admits that at first glance, the switch from telecommunications to Dining Services may seem a bit far-fetched, but in fact, there are many parallels between the two jobs.

As telecommunications director and director of campus card services, Cousart managed a large vendor that provided services to the Penn community.

"In a way, I think that most people on campus didn't realize that it wasn't self-operated by Penn," Cousart said. "There are some very strong analogs there to the campus dining."

Customer service, contract management and managing a delivery service are some skills she says she will bring to the job -- "And I like to eat," she joked.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.