New director of campus dining appointed
Mark Hayes will join the Division of Student Life in late January as the new Director of Campus Dining, according to an email from Executive Director of Administration Peter Cummings announcing the appointment.
Hayes has previously served in several positions in the field of campus dining services, most recently as the director of university-operated food services at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, in addition to earlier roles at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and Harvard University, according to the email.
Hayes has also opened or helped open restaurants in the Netherlands, Singapore, and Pennsylvania, with the last location being an Italian eatery, Lidia’s Pittsburgh, the email continued.
“The Director of Campus Dining will oversee all of the areas of MIT dining operations including retail, residential, catering conference/business center services, vending food trucks, pubs and any other specialty services providing food to the campus,” according to the description in a job posting for the position on the William Spelman Executive Search website.
“While there is a lot of work to do, I also expect the role to be creatively challenging and fun,” Hayes wrote in a statement sent to The Tech. “This is an important time for MIT’s food and dining program: the student survey was completed in June …, submissions to the RFP are expected soon, and I get to be part of a team of students, faculty, and staff that will help to chart the future of food and dining on campus.”
Previously, Hayes’s responsibilities were fulfilled by Naomi Carton, associate dean of residential life and dining. Carton’s role has been refocused on graduate student support “in response to [their] growing needs,” Matt Bauer, special assistant to the dean and director of communications for the DSL, wrote in an email to The Tech.
The search for a dining director started in the summer; candidates were interviewed in October; and Hayes received and accepted the offer in November, according to an additional email from Cummings sent to The Tech.