KNOXVILLE — Students, faculty, staff and alumni who have “Where in the World is Smokey?” T-shirts are invited to eat lunch at a discount at the Ready for the World Cafe on Wednesday, March 5.
Diners wearing their shirts to the cafe that day will receive $2 off the $10 all-you-can-eat international buffet. (The “Where in the World is Smokey?” discount can not be combined with any other discounts.)
The cafe, which operates in the Hermitage Room on the third floor of the University Center, is open from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The cafe menu changes weekly. The menu for March 5-7 includes lo mein, stir-fried pork and broccoli with cashews, chicken scaloppini with spring vegetables, Basque potatoes, artichoke and mushroom casserole, tilapia with a roasted pine nut crust and white beans with olive oil and tomato salad (fagioli al’ olio). There also will be a carving station, a garden salad bar, a bread and cheese station and a dessert station.
“Where in the World is Smokey?” is a challenge meant to draw attention to Ready for the World, the international and intercultural initiative at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The goal of the challenge is to see how many places Smokey can travel this year. Students, faculty, staff and alumni are offered free T-shirts if they agree to have someone photograph them wearing the shirt while they’re traveling.
To date, Smokey has been spotted on six of the seven continents — all but Antarctica. He’s been to 17 states and Washington, D.C. To view the photos and request a shirt, see http://whereintheworldissmokey.blogspot.com/.
The Ready for the World Cafe is the brainchild of John Antun, assistant professor and director of the retail, hospitality and tourism management department. Antun, a certified executive chef with a doctorate in higher education administration, has spent more than 40 years in the hospitality industry and opened and operated four successful restaurants in the New York metropolitan area.
Although ARAMARK, UT’s provider of dining services, provides the food and its employees do the cooking, students provide the recipes and manage the employees. Students take turns serving as general manager of the cafe.
The cafe menu changes weekly.
Antun said students chose the name “Ready for the World Cafe” because their project fits well into the university’s international and intercultural initiative, also called Ready for the World.
The goal of Ready for the World is to transform the campus into a culture of diversity that best prepares students for working and competing in the 21st century. The initiative involves increasing the diversity among students, faculty and staff; infusing the curriculum with international and intercultural content; expanding study-abroad and work-study opportunities; and encouraging students to take advantage of all of these opportunities.
For more information about Ready for the World, see http://www.utk.edu/readyfortheworld/.