Dear AU Community,  

We want to make you aware of two special events for the AU community that will take place in the coming weeks. 

March 5 – Conflict Cuisine: Diaspora, identity, and the power of food in DC. Join SIS Distinguished Practitioner and recognized conflict cuisine expert, Professor Johanna Mendelson-Forman, students from her Conflict Cuisine class, and the AU Kitchen for a special event that will explore the impact of our region’s unique culinary scene on diplomacy. The event will be held in Mary Graydon Center Room 128 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. and will feature chefs and food experts from the Washington diaspora community. Afterwards, there will be a tasting of Ethiopian, Afghan, Vietnamese, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Salvadoran cuisines prepared by the AU Kitchen. Registration instructions and more information can be found here. 

March 27 – Celebrity Chef Damaris Phillips visits campus. Join the AU Kitchen and Office of the President for a special campus visit from Chef Damaris Phillips for several special events during President Alger’s inauguration. Events include an Eagles Helping Eagles Lunch with Chef Phillips, a teaching kitchen, and a TDR takeover with student supper tables. You can find more information about these events on the Inauguration Website. 

To ensure that these events benefit and support our entire community, AU Kitchen and Chartwells, AU’s dining operator, will donate five percent of all cash, credit, and Eaglebucks sales on March 5 and March 27 at our venues to food insecurity initiatives on campus. On March 27, during the Eagles Helping Eagles Lunch, all meal swipes in TDR will be matched and donated to the Eagles Helping Eagles program.  

We are grateful to be hosting these events for the AU community in the coming weeks.

Onward we go together,

Bronté Burleigh-Jones 
CFO, Vice President, and Treasurer   

Michael Scher 
Assistant Vice President, Campus Auxiliary Services and Airlie