Jae Gruber-Price

Jae Gruber-PriceCHEP

About me

Jae Gruber-Price instructed more than a dozen classes in culinary technique and hospitality education. She served as a member of the Academic Leadership Team for Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta for 13 years and completed her service to the organization as Interim Director of Education. Her responsibilities included: conducting bi-annual employee evaluations; faculty observations; classroom, syllabus, rubrics and student customer service quality control; curriculum development and enforcement of syllabus standards; student worker management; payroll responsibilities; coordinator of faculty development activities; talent acquisition; retention initiatives; records management; accreditation preparation; regulatory compliance; scheduling for an average of forty instructors during four shift periods for over 70 classes.

Additional experience includes the role of Executive Chef for several fine dining restaurants, as well as an extensive background in high-end exclusive catering, kosher catering, a personal chef, and the opportunity to cook at the James Beard House. She worked as a restaurant consultant in Atlanta and Central America, specializing in menu and wine list development, training, and sanitation improvement.  Jae is currently the owner of Life Cuisine, a Personal Chef and private home culinary and wine instruction service.  She is also a professor at Underwood University, for the Bachelor of Hotel Management degree program.

Jae was the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished Educator of the Year award for Academic Leadership from Career Education Corporation. She has earned several professional certifications, such as CCE, FMP, and CHEP. Jae is a Culinary, Hospitality, and Events Specialist evaluator for ACICS and ACCSET.

Jae was previously the host for the Le Cordon Bleu Radio Show and later, her own culinary talk radio show. She contributed articles to Le Cordon Bleu publications, has had recipes published in Dine Out Atlanta and Lisa Boalt Richardson’s Book, The World in your Tea Cup, and she has also had a stint as an online syndicated food columnist.  She is also the author of the online MaxKnowledge course:  Introduction to Culinary Instruction.

Activity

Mathias, Sharing your own prep lists and timelines is an excellent idea. Because instructors are prepared when students come into the classroom, they often do not realize the thought, planning and effort behind the scenes. Perhaps if students get this instructor view of mise en place, it can reinforce the importance of their own class preparations. Jae Gruber
Marcus, Great point! Pizza can truly be a "common ground" discussion. It is certainly a food that can speak to many backgrounds, age groups, regional differences and even international differences. Jae Gruber
Ron, Posing the question "what would you have done" really gets the students to dig deep and contemplate how they would react in certain situations, as well as prompts some excellent discussions. Thank you for sharing your best practice! Jae Gruber
Robert, I like the idea of the manual for restaurant simulation. Can you tell us more about the rubric that you use to grade this? Jae Gruber
Michael , That sounds like a lot of fun! Games in the classroom are a great way to get students involved in their learning. A relaxed competitive activity can acutally increase the possibility that the student will study. They want to win! Jae Gruber
Monica, These are very good ideas. Many students have never seen or tasted various ingredients prior to attending culinary school. When the student researches or hears of the research of other students on ingredient history and is exposed to tasting opportunities, it increases the likelihood of positive student engagement. Jae Gruber
michael, Great idea. Students are often surprised at the cost of kitchen equipment, not to mention various licensing and the utility costs that can be incurred. Jae Gruber
Jeremy, What type of local trends do you share with the students? Jae Gruber
Monica, It is an excellent practice to assess at the end of each day or the next day, as a review. Reflecting on what went well, what could be changed and what is possible is just as critical to learning as the initial task. Jae Gruber
Warren, Thank you for sharing this practice. I think this type of critique is very helpful to students. It does not embarrass anyone, increases student awareness and helps students realize what you are looking for when you are doing a critique/grading. Jae Gruber

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