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Native American Alumni of Harvard University

The New Face of Indian Country: 

1st Annual NAAHU Symposium &

General Meeting

 Members of the Native American Alumni of Harvard University Executive Board cordially request your presence at the First Annual NAAHU Symposium and General Meeting to be hosted at Harvard University on Friday-Sunday,  

April 26 – 28, 2013. 

This year’s event “The New Face of Indian Country” also coincides with both the 18^th Annual Harvard University Powwow and 20^th Annual Arts First Festival.  The weekend is a closed event for NAAHU community members and their guests.

The New Face of Indian Country
As members of NAAHU, we hold a unique place in the world because we are familiar with two very distinct sides of life: indigenous culture and the Ivy League. Together, this powerful combination gives us “the best of both worlds.” Not only are we able to look at larger society from an indigenous perspective, but we also give our indigenous society greater access to the world at large. As Native people in the 21^st century, we have the opportunity to set a precedent for what it means to be indigenous in a global society and to be the voice of underrepresented indigenous populations in global discourse.

Your presence will make a huge difference as we engage in dialogue and broaden our perspective on what it means to be alive at this crucial moment in time.  Look for more emails from us as the date draws closer, including a call for panel and paper submissions to the symposium, newsletter updates, and additional event details- including talking circles, a public art display, a tour of the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP), opportunities to interact with current students, and more!

We look forward to seeing you in April!

Marcus Briggs-Cloud (HDS '10) - SU speaker reminds audience that justice includes the environment

Marcus Briggs-Cloud (HDS '10) invited speaker for Shenandoah University's Martin Luther King Jr. Service of Remembrance 2013.

SU speaker reminds audience that justice includes the environment

Winter Welcome

BREAKING NEWS! Native American Alumni of Harvard University (NAAHU) launches blog.

Fall 2012 Survey Results & Welcome to the Winter Menu

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In late October, 2,945 undergraduates or House affiliates completed Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) residential dining satisfaction survey. This represents roughly a 44% response rate, assuring results that should be strongly representative of the overall community.

Total respondent breakdown:

• Freshman – 33.3%
• Sophomore – 25.1%
• Junior – 18.6%
• Senior – 18.2%
• Other (not undergrad) – 4.8%

Respondents self-identified with the following dietary preferences:

• I am an omnivore (I eat any kind of protein)  – 71.3%
• I exclude some, but not all meat (i.e. don't eat pork or beef or some other animal protein) – 13.3%
• I am a pescaterian (I eat seafood but no meat) – 4.3%
• I am a vegetarian (no beef, chicken, turkey, or seafood/fish products) – 6.5%
• I am a vegan (no meat or dairy) – 1.0%
• I keep kosher – 0.8%
• I keep Halal – 0.4%
• Other – 2.4%

Survey participants selected Brazilian Barbecue for the festive meal on Sunday, February 24, but support for Greekfest was also strong so HUDS has invited guest chef Diane Kochilas back in the spring for further food fun, including an entirely Greek-themed dinner.

HUDS benchmarks its program in areas of food and menu, service, and “concerns” year over year, using these categories to drive continuous improvement, but also to identify problem areas in individual operations or overall.

Every dining location received the results from its specific community feedback, and has been using that information to make local adjustments – to condiments, spices, equipment temps, etc.

At an overall level, scores are compared to those over the last several Falls, and are as follows:

 

In particular, we note significant change in evaluation of the “concerns” categories. We attribute this largely to the recent implementation of new menu cards. Additional comments positively note the new menu cards’ added information on food sources, ingredients, and wellness potential. Some respondents suggest that menu cards also display calorie and serving size information. This feedback is noted, but HUDS determined, with the support of a broad committee of students and residential and health professionals to continue to provide that information only on HUDS’ website, where it proves less challenging for individuals with eating disorders.

Additional comments noted periodic innaccuracies in the cards – items labeled as Vegetarian when they appear Vegan, incomplete ingredients, etc. In these cases, students are encouraged to point this out either to their managers or through the feedback system. With several hundred items a day on the menu, we are grateful for additional, helpful monitoring of information and will correct it immediately.

Feedback regarding new menu items was able to be integrated into the winter menu, which starts on Wednesday, November 28. We used to start the winter menu after winter break, but based on student feedback determined you need that variety to start sooner. Recommendations for new menu items included the following (with HUDS notes in parantheses immediately following:

• Avocados/guacamole (exploring this as an occassional option for the salad bar – avocados are very expensive, so we hope, when they begin their season in March, to be able to offer them periodically)
• Asparagus (exploring this as an occassional option for the spring menu – asparagus is very expensive, and is mostly harvested in April, so we hope to be able to offer it periodically then)
• Beef or steak (will appear on the winter menu, such as in steak with pepper sauce and roast sirloin)
• Cheesecake (appearing on the winter menu)
• Congo bars (appearing on the winter menu)
• Enchiladas (will explore for the spring menu)
• Fish – not fried (appearing on the winter menu)
• Fresh Fruit (we continually monitor seasonal availability and try to bring in new things as quality and affordability allow)
• Greek yogurt (continue to monitor pricing and bulk availability)
• Grilled salmon (appearing on the winter menu)
• Gyros (will appear as a make-your-own station on the spring menu)
• Indian food (during the winter, one Friday night World Cuisine will be Indian)
• Korean Barbecue (appearing on the winter menu)
• Lasagna – meat and vegetarian (appearing on the winter menu)
• Mac & Cheese (appearing on the winter menu)
• Nutella (continue to monitor pricing and bulk availability)
• Pad Thai – a more authentic tasting version (we will examine the recipe. Authentic pad thai includes several allrgens, which we have avoided, but may need to bring back to make the taste “truer”)
• Potstickers/dumplings (appearing on the winter menu)
• Sushi (hard to buy a quality product at the volume we need and a price we can afford)
• Tortellini or ravioli (appearing on the winter menu)

A number of comments also centered on the following areas:

• A number of entrees could easily become vegan if they replaced butter with something like olive oil – our chef is examing this, please continue to call out such opportunities when you see them
• A number of entrees could become healthier (especially among vegetarian options) if cheese or cream were eliminated or on the side – again, our chef is exploring opportunities for this change
• Some items seem salty, especially soup – in the past 18 months, HUDS has reduced sodium in its entire menu by 25%, including soup. That said, as people continue to reduce sodium, they taste it more and more. We’ll keep modifying recipes as tastes change to take advantage of this opportunity to improve pverall health. As we like to note, one can always add salt, but they can’t take it away. It’s a great, positive statement about our national taste that this is a welcome change.
• Brain Break could use some healthier options – coming your way with the new specials over the winter!

Thanks to our community for participating in this vital survey process, which lets us adjust course and make positive changes to the menu and services. Keep sharing your feedback – in person, online, on Facebook, or through Twitter.

Welcome Back!

Over the summer, your menu enjoyed a bit of a makeover. Our culinary team has introduced great new recipes and menu items – everything from homemade deli salads at the sandwich bar (made in-house with no additives or preservatives, which also makes them gluten free), complemented by a freshly baked bread, to several new Friday World Cuisine themes, including South American, Southeast Asian, Tex-Mex and New England menus.

Some other highlights: every day at lunch we’ll feature a hot sandwich, in addition to entrees. We now feature a whole grain station, where you can enjoy whole grain Barilla-plus pasta, a hot grain such as quinoa, wheatberries or wild rice, and complementing sauces. And we’ve added a number of tasty new entrees, like Vegetarian Loco Moco (a play on a Hawaiian street food), to Curried Chicken with Coconut Milk, Swordfish Tacos and Korean Pork Stir-fry.



And now, by popular demand, we're also featuring soy milk as a regular beverage option.

We’ve also made changes to the bag meal program (don’t forget: order online from the undergraduate section of the website - www.dining.harvard.edu - by 4am for same-day pick-up) in response to your feedback. Bag meals now feature better ingredients, more healthy choices and gluten-free options.

The Make-Your-Own Station this fall is Crepes - both sweet and savory - on Monday nights. Make it your meal or your dessert – or both! – from the ingredients offered, or get creative with dining hall staples.

Finally, we’ll continue to feature some favorite additions from last year:
Fruit bar on Tuesday nights
Pre-made salads on Thursday nights
Bread bar on Sunday nights

We’re looking forward to a great new year!

Residential Dining Spring 2012 Satisfaction Survey Summary

• 1,996 respondents
•  75% are omnivores
•  Of non-vegetarians, 44% eat vegetarian 3 or more times weekly

• Overall satisfaction: 3.87

• In line with satisfaction for the last five years (which peaked at 3.96 and has been as low as 3.46)
• Satisfaction in Food, Service and Concerns categories remains fairly level (see charts that follow), though a few areas, when combined with respondent comments, reveal key areas on which HUDS will work more extensively over the summer:

o   Menu taste, variety & freshness

o   Cleanliness of plates & utensils

o   Health/nutrition concerns around food

•  A “scoring of key customer service areas revealed the following:

o   When there's a checker on duty, are you greeted warmly? 94% yes

o   When you place a grill order, are your interactions with the grill cook helpful/friendly? 94% yes

o   Are your grill orders made quickly and accurately? 88% yes

o   Are menu items replenished quickly during mealtime? 89% yes

o   Are serving lines still fully stocked if you come in at 6:45pm? 78% yes

o   Do you feel comfortable asking the staff for something if you don't see it? 88% yes

o   When you order a bag meal, is it completed accurately? 87% yes

• Best practices in each area will be identified and rolled out to all units
• Key themes of open ended comments:

o   Healthy options are much in demand. While students have guilty favorites, they do want to make healthy choices and are interested in seeing less fried food, cheese, and sauces or heavy preparations. They’re looking for many and varied fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and grains. They view less processed foods as being more nutritious. They eat with their eyes first, and look for colorful, fresh foods as first guides to making healthful selections. 

o   Fruits and vegetables are much in demand – in greater variety and creative preparation. They want a rainbow of colors, and foods prepared with an emphasis on taste, making it more interesting and therefore inspiring to eat healthy.

o   Many acknowledge that HUDS has made significant positive moves this year with the addition or premade salads, the Tuesday fruit bar, and new vegetarian offerings. They just want more of this.

o   What they want less of: oil and butter on vegetables; chicken; unauthentic ethnic foods.

o   What they want more of: interesting ice cream flavors on Sundays; nutrition and allergy cues on menu cards; Korean barbecue; alternative vegetarian proteins like seitan and beans; red meat and fish; greek yogurt; cohesive menus at a given meal.

o   Many pointed to an opportunity to reduce the number of items offered in favor of providing better quality, freshness and variety of what is on display.

• All the above will be utilized and considered in the seasonal cycle menu revisions already underway.