By: Blaine Leonard, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, bpl5460@psu.edu 

The department of housing and food services provides food for campus residents, faculty and staff. But they are not just about food, they are the largest employer of students on campus. 

It seems that food services have been improving ever since they began on campus in 2017. Director of Housing and Food Services, Elizabeth Kearns mentions that, in the beginning, options were quite simple, “we tried to do good food but simple food.” When they started pizza, it started with just cheese and pepperoni, but now there are many more varieties offered.  

Kearns says, “every year the menu gets modified to meet the needs of the current students; it changes every semester and sometimes mid semester.” Housing and food services hosts a food advisory board for students to stop by and give their feedback on menu choices. Kearns mentions, “students can come talk about what they like and hate about the menu, or what students want to see on the menu next.” 

“We work with the executive chef’s office at University Park. All nine locations of housing and food services across the Commonwealth work on a menu together,” Kearns said. “. . . there’s one big menu but we all can tweak it a little bit for our own personal campuses.” 

Housing and food services offer catering to campus groups:  student groups, faculty and staff. The menu is provided online at cateringbw@psu.edu. Kearns said, “to those who want to order, we work with their internal Penn State budget. Lead times vary so Kearns recommends trying to plan events well in advance. 

Housing and food services also provide employment for students. Kearns said, “We are the largest employer of students on campus. Students need to make money while they are in college, and they need the flexible hours we can provide them.” Kearns went on to say that, “If a student works for the dining and food services department, they will receive a free meal during the shift they work as well as the option of purchasing a two-dollar meal three times a day.” For information about working with food services, just email https://liveon.psu.edu/brandywine/dining. 

Kearns believes that there won’t be any massive changes to expand the building structure.  She indicated that the focus at this point is to maintain and make improvements and to listen and respond to campus requests and concerns. 

The Housing and Food Services personnel at Penn State Brandywine provide affordable food and employment and continue to benefit the campus!