WSU Tech celebrates launch of culinary arts program; Butler announces new partnership
WSU Tech will host its first cohort of culinary arts students this fall in the Boston Recreation Center space vacated by Butler County Community College’s hospitality program, which Wichita State forced out after a years-long turf war.
WSU Tech has broken ground on a 45,000-square-foot downtown facility, the National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education, which is set to open next August in the historic Henry’s department store building at 124 S. Broadway.
The facility will include demonstration and commercial kitchens, classrooms, student-run cafes, a public food hall and a rooftop event center, WSU Tech president Sheree Utash said at a Wednesday event celebrating the program launch.
“It is the dream and the vision that NICHE will become one of the top not only food destinations but the top education and training for culinary arts and hospitality in the Midwest,” Utash said.
Butler has offered a hospitality program at Boston Rec Center, near Harry and Woodlawn, since 2012. Because its main campus is in Butler County, the community college needed WSU’s approval to operate in Sedgwick County.
In 2018, WSU blocked Butler’s bid to build a $4 million culinary arts school in the old brick fire station downtown on South Topeka.
When WSU Tech went to the Kansas Board of Regents seeking approval of their own culinary program last summer, Butler formally objected, arguing that Wichita’s economy couldn’t support a second program.
WSU Tech’s culinary school will be headed by a married chef duo who helped build Butler’s program in Wichita. John Michael will serve as program director and Lexi Michael will be executive chef and oversee programming as department chair.
Utash said NICHE will provide hands-on learning for aspiring food service professionals.
“All of our students in this program will have applied learning opportunities. They will be able to work,” Utash said. “It might be in the event center. It might be in the kitchen. It might be in the food hall. It might be at the Wind Surge. It might be at the restaurants or the hotels nearby. Everyone will have that opportunity for hands-on learning.”
On Wednesday, Butler announced a partnership with Johnson County Community College, which has the nation’s largest Chef Apprenticeship program. The partnership will give Butler’s culinary students the chance to stay in the Wichita area while earning their American Culinary Federation credential.
“Two of the state’s powerhouse culinary programs are collaborating to serve the two largest metropolitan areas in Kansas. The ability to now give Butler graduates a pathway for their American Culinary Federation (ACF) certification is the perfect next step for our culinary students,” Butler President Kim Krull said in a release.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 10:22 AM.