{"id":77711,"date":"2026-04-20T10:24:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77711"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:24:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:24:43","slug":"hrm-class-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/hrm-class-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting the kitchen to the test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students in the Food\u00a0is Medicine class were hard at work in their final lab of the semester. With aprons on and hair pulled back, groups of four students gathered around a cooking station in the HRM kitchen and\u00a0read through\u00a0their recipes. One group washed and chopped mushrooms, another mixed cookie batter and others prepared\u00a0chicken\u00a0or jackfruit to marinate.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This week, though, another group of students joined the lab. These public health students had clipboards,\u00a0checklists\u00a0and thermometers, and they were looking closely for any slips in food safety.\u00a0They quizzed the other students about handwashing and kept their eyes peeled for (plastic!) bugs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was career-ready learning for everyone\u2014cooking and nutrition for the Food\u00a0is Medicine students and how to do a restaurant\u00a0safety\u00a0inspection\u00a0for the public health students. And at the end, everyone got stuffed mushrooms, skillet cookies and stir\u00a0fry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easier for them to learn when they\u2019re cooking vs.\u00a0reading a slide,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Megan Meyer<\/span><\/b>, a faculty member in nutrition and food, while public health faculty member\u00a0<\/span>Kasondra McCracken<\/span><\/b>\u00a0added, \u201cIt\u2019s really cool for the students to give it a try.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gastro-pupils<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"ASenior\u00a0<\/span>Lizzie Greene<\/span><\/b>\u00a0reviewed the recipe for skillet chocolate chip cookies with her group. These\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0standard cookies; they were vegan and\u00a0had no\u00a0refined sugar, which can help keep a\u00a0diner\u2019s\u00a0blood sugar down.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Making cookies that are lower in fat and sugar is\u00a0a great way\u00a0to make sweets part of a balanced diet,\u00a0said Greene, a biomedical science major.\u00a0All\u00a0semester\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0studied how to use food as medicine in a person\u2019s everyday practice, and cookies help.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to be more fun than just eating fruits and vegetables,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her goal after graduating is to work in immunology at Flagstaff Medical Center, and this class will be beneficial. Plus, Greene\u00a0said,\u00a0she has her own health issues and is always looking for ways to feel better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For\u00a0freshman\u00a0<\/span>Joseph Keleher<\/span><\/b>, a\u00a0nutrition\u00a0and\u00a0foods\u00a0major, adding the extra element of the health inspector\u2014and a reporter with a notepad and photographers with cameras\u2014upped the ante of the cooking.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0fun!\u00a0It reminds me of cooking shows,\u201d Keleher said. \u201cIt really is nice to be in this environment.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s\u00a0studying\u00a0nutrition and food\u00a0and loves cooking, so this class has provided a welcome look into how a commercial kitchen is different than a home kitchen. He wants to be a dietitian with the goal of eventually returning to graduate school and becoming a professor.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to broadening his palate\u2014throughout the semester the students have cooked tofu, jackfruit,\u00a0bison\u00a0and other\u00a0less common\u00a0proteins\u2014Keleher appreciates the different outlook on food that\u00a0professor\u00a0<\/span>Jay Sutliffe<\/span><\/b>\u00a0shares in the classroom and culinary lab director\u00a0<\/span>Chloe Sutliffe<\/span><\/b>\u00a0creates in the kitchen. The class focuses on plant-based recipes, new ways to cook vegetables, what can be done with different ingredients and how including a generous dose of naturally occurring nutrients like fiber, iron and vitamins can make food\u00a0a key part of managing chronic conditions and helping to prevent disease.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"StudentsChloe\u00a0Sutliffe, who oversees the lab, said the hands-on experience\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0just about cooking. The students get to taste everything as well and develop a broader palate and appreciation for\u00a0different ways\u00a0of cooking and flavors from other cultures.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at foods that can heal us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe really want them to experience different foods and gain the culinary skills so they can take food to a different level in their homes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bryce Bolin weaved his way through the kitchen, food thermometer in one hand, clipboard on the other. He was on a mission: Did the tofu get to a safe temperature?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Bolin, a sophomore environmental science major taking McCracken\u2019s environmental health class,\u00a0getting to be a health inspector was a lot of fun. He always walked past the kitchen and wondered what got taught in there.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI actually get to see what\u2019s\u00a0going\u00a0on in\u00a0here today,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"StudentsThe restaurant, he was able to report, was\u00a0pretty clean\u2014he found a trash can without a\u00a0bag\u00a0and a couple of stations were out of hand sanitizer. He also found four plastic bugs that McCracken planted.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He wants to be an environmental lawyer, so this\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0go directly into his career plans, but for some students,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a great fit. McCracken said this is the second semester\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0done this joint class, and two students have approached her after and said they wanted to do\u00a0health inspections\u00a0for a career after graduating.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a good job\u00a0for a college\u00a0grad, she said; people need a bachelor\u2019s\u00a0degree\u00a0and the job is usually in demand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To learn more about the\u00a0Food\u00a0is\u00a0Medicine class, check out\u00a0<\/span>the NAU course catalog<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students in the Food\u00a0is Medicine class were hard at work in their final lab of the semester. With aprons on and hair pulled back, groups of four students gathered around a cooking station in the HRM kitchen and\u00a0read through\u00a0their recipes. One group washed and chopped mushrooms, another mixed cookie batter and others prepared\u00a0chicken\u00a0or jackfruit to…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":77712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}