Knutson Campus Center- Jane Grant-Shambaugh
The Knutson Campus Center houses the Dining Services Office. Jane Grant-Shambaugh was director of Auxiliary Services from 1979 to 2007 and had a significant impact on Concordia's Dining Services. When hired in 1979, she noticed a difference in the wages of female and male staff and worked closely with then college president Dr. Paul Dovre to change this. They worked diligently on this issue and after about six months the wages became more equalized between men and women. (12)
In a 2009 interview, she mentioned that overseeing a large department like Dining Services wasn't a woman's place in her earlier years at Concordia; it was more of a man's job. Women at the college weren't in leadership positions at that time but that slowly changed once she was hired. She felt that she had the ability to bring more women into this industry and that is what she did, hiring more women to the Dining Services department. (13)
Mrs. Shambaugh was involved with many issues. Auxiliary Services became one of the first departments to become more energy efficient. They bought new equipment that would save electricity costs by 30%. Not only was Jane involved with issues in Auxiliary Services but she was also involved with many committees. She helped form the sexual harassment policy, employee assistance programs, and was on the committee of student affairs in which she helped the student body turn their focus on the moderation of drinking. (14)
When the new campus center was being built in 2005, the Food Service staff worked directly with food consultants. Food Service staff were not typically part of the college center design planning, but Concordia's Food Services was, and had a voice in the final decisions that were made. (15) The food consultants also helped Jane and the rest of Auxiliary Services conduct a survey to see what the students and faculty wanted changed. This helped Dining Services improve their meal selection, made it a more enjoyable experience, and helped create meals the students thought of as "home-cooked like." (16)
Jane described her time at Concordia as rewarding because she was allowed to work with various types of people, interact with the students, develop ideas that had significant impacts on the college, speak out for what was right, and form many lasting relationships. A memorable moment that she recalls was when a student manager, Debra Mitchell, came back to Concordia College after she had graduated to make a video that focused on student employment with Concordia College and how valuable that experience was. (17)
The National Association of Colleges & University Food Services awarded Jane Grant-Shambaugh in 2007 the Richard Lichtenfelt Award. (18) According to the NACUFS, this award recognizes people with outstanding service to NACUFS on a national level, and is awarded by the association president annually at the National Conference. She was awarded in 2008 with the Theodore W. Minah Distinguished Service Award. (19) This award is the highest award one can bestow and recognizes a person based on contributions to NACUFS and to the Food Service industry. She was awarded in 2011 with the David R. Prentkowski Distinguised Lifetime Member Award. (20) This award recognizes individuals retired from a college or university Food Service leadership position or a position that has supported the betterment of college and university Food Services. As you can tell from her multiple awards, Jane Grant-Shambaugh was one that was very much involved in the Food Service industry and left a mark on Concordia's Dining Service department.