Leslie Seiferle
Professor
School of Applied
Technology and Technical Specialties
Commercial Foods
Certificate
What she teaches:
ServSafe™,
Culinary Math, Stewarding (to include personal protection and equipment safety),
Breakfast, Starch and Vegetable Cookery, National Restaurant Association
Certificate Course for Nutrition, Meat, Poultry and Seafood Fabrication, Soup,
Sauce and Protein Cookery, Cold Pantry and Bakery applications
Number of years teaching at SLCC:
26
Undergraduate degree:
Utah State
University, Career and Technical Education
Master’s:
Utah State
University, MEd, Career and Technical Education
Why working at SLCC matters:
SLCC provides an
open door to college that can rarely be duplicated by four-year institutions. They
also reach a far more diverse group of students than do most four-year colleges
and universities.
Greatest professional challenge:
Since imperative
skills as an educator require time employed in industry prior to a faculty
appointment, one can tread the continuum of trailing in industry currency.
Prior to teaching, the renewal of professional credentialing as an
industry chef required ongoing practical applications of technical
expertise in a closed-circuit evaluation environment. As an alternative,
competitions surfaced as an opportunity for an immediate critique by
respected contemporaries in an open forum involving students. Not only has this
parallel provided for measuring up-to-date mechanical competence on the
watch of a pupil, but in the veneration as an instructor who has relevance. Maintaining
technical currency has required 30 competitions over a decade.
Greatest professional accomplishments:
In recognition of
the professional challenges involved in a dual role as an educator and
competent journeyman chef, I received a presidential award (Cutting Edge Award) at our own ACF Chef Connect educational conference in Minneapolis earlier this year. While the award stipulates leadership and service in multiple
forms, the acknowledgement of involving students within my own professional
development creates crosswalks among SLCC certificate students and master-level
mentors for generations to come. Two of my students
are also distinguished
alumni recipients.
Advice for students or others:
My family
justified education as an opportunity to internalize something that could never
be bought, sold or taken.
Future plans:
Nonprofit work
with sustainable agriculture and food safety constituencies, food security, mobile
markets located in food deserts, crop diversity in order to protect global food
security and minimizing food waste through old-world skills with modern
relevance.
Family:
Since my father
was a Marines aviator, we relocated every 18 months, so no place was home, and
you will always be the new kid in school. The intention of that childhood was
discipline as a product, an outcome, an achievement and not something applied
from without. Influences to cook were primarily tied to socialization skill
building, but as with many chefs, it was a grandmother who allowed you to stir
the gravy first.
Hobbies:
Horses. Gardening.
Fly-fishing. Social dance. Dutch oven cookery. Animal rescue.
Chef Leslie Seiferle poses with her 2019 Cutting Edge Award.