Patrick Friley, the previous director of dining services, has departed from Keene State. Bobbie Walker, the regional director of operations at Chartwells, took over Friley’s duties until a replacement, Sam D’Angelo, was hired in the role. D’Angelo’s hiring was announced during the Tuesday, Nov. 18, meeting of the KSC Student Assembly.
Chartwells, specifically Chartwells Higher Education, is the food service corporation that both Keene State and Plymouth State contractually partner with to have food provided on their campuses. Walker and KSC Dining Services, along with the entire dining team, work for Chartwells, not Keene State itself.
According to Associate Vice President of Student Engagement Jen Ferrell, Walker had already been working closely with Student Engagement, Friley and Plymouth State’s dining team before the personnel change.
“She’s stepped in. She’s jumped into all the meetings that he [Friley] would normally be in, meetings with me, management teams and some supervisors.” Ferrell said. She continued, “She’s really just stepped in to sort of all these time-consuming things, and helped move things forward that needed a bit of extra time and attention. It’s been great because she’s really attentive.”
Ferrell said that Walker had been navigating various messages from her, as well as other campus departments. Walker had also been working with dining services’ Marketing Director, Kala Clark, to assist with different promotions and marketing campaigns. Ferrell said the role of director was “a bit of everything, sort of the entirety of the program.”
As for changes underneath Walker, Ferrell said not to expect anything too drastic. Any adjustments made will be done as a result of a survey with data provided from KSC students.
Ferrell said, “I don’t think any of those changes will be major scaled things. I do think students will see differences based upon the feedback in that survey. And in the spring, there will be focus group opportunities which will lead to deeper research from both the survey and anybody who didn’t participate in that but still wants to talk.”
Walker’s role as interim director was behind-the-scenes focused, rather than direct engagement with students, so as to help the dining team be as comfortable as possible navigating the change. Walker will still be around Zorn Dining Commons often, as well as Chef Austin O’Hara and Clark, who will continue to be familiar faces that students are welcome to speak with. Ferrell said Walker does want to make another appearance at a student assembly meeting, in addition to the two already done by KSC dining services, to make sure people feel connected and aware of anything going on.
When asked about student reception of the leadership change, Ferrell said, “I think for a majority of students, it’s honestly not something they’re aware of or concerned about. The rest of the team remains in place, and things are moving forward as they have been, so I don’t think there’s a real impact to general students at this time.”
“As far as the team goes, they’re all just supporting one another. People already operate very thoughtfully and independently, so having those folks here is really good,” Ferrell said. “If we didn’t have such a strong team in the first place, it might be a different story, but they’ve all been doing good work for a period of time together now, so it’s easier to move stuff forward. It’s good.”
Ferrell said that the areas she works with are interconnected in terms of student experience and what life looks like outside of the classroom. She said that student affairs will be figuring out what supporting the student body looks like in regard to the upcoming staffing adjustments and faculty departures in the spring semester.
Keene State Dining Services’ goal for the remainder of the academic year will be to continue with well-received aspects and look for more ways to broaden that, according to Ferrell. They will be determining through the survey and focus groups how to best prioritize the things that give students an improved experience, some which may be implemented over the upcoming winter break.
Walker and Clark were contacted but declined to comment.
Samantha Menard can be contacted at
