This article is featured in the 2026 Commencement special issue.
While their faces may not come stamped on “fookies” — a portmanteau of “Foco,” a popular abbreviation for the Class of 1953 Commons, and “cookies” — and they may not be sitting on the ’53 Commons’ daunting “dark side” next to hundreds of students flooding in and out, there’s a team of often-underappreciated women who are to thank for the delicious food produced by Dartmouth Dining every day.
But what goes into these important roles? Who decides whether Collis Cafe will serve pasta or bulgogi bowls on any given night? If your favorite ice cream will be in the rotation at ’53 Commons? If it is Italian Night or stir fry for dinner?
To answer these important questions, The Dartmouth sat down with four female Dartmouth Dining executives who help coordinate the most satisfying dining experience for students. Following the 50th anniversary of the Class at 1976’s commencement, the first coeducational class at Dartmouth, it is important to reflect on the many roles women play in leading the College — whether in administration or in dining, a lot has changed since the first women of Dartmouth matriculated.
’53 Commons sous chef Courtney Bryan said that while the food industry “hasn’t always been an intensely female industry,” she is grateful for Dartmouth’s commitment to having its workforce be composed of a “pretty good diverse group of people.”
“Being a female in the kitchen also helps when we have other female employees,” Bryan said. “It just gives us some camaraderie.”
Bryan said she spends most of her time in the kitchen “moving employees around,” “hopping in and out of stations” and “coming up with quick solutions.”
“Sometimes I feel like I should wear a fire extinguisher costume,” she joked.
She also works with other staff to organize themed nights at ’53 Commons, such as the annual snow day dinner in January and “An Evening in Italy” dinner in April.
When Bryan first came to Dartmouth five years ago, Dartmouth Dining “never had Star Wars Day before.” But as a “huge” fan, she pitched the idea to the Dartmouth Dining team. Now, on May 4 every year, Star Wars Day at ’53 Commons features lightsabers, Star Wars-themed decorations and special food items, such as a cookie bar this May.
“Everybody’s been really supportive,” Bryan said. “We do have a lot of Star Wars fans within the employees and definitely among the students.”
Dining associate director Heather Lascelle, who works closely alongside Dartmouth Dining director Jon Plodzik to run Dartmouth Dining, said she is trying to “break the ceiling” by being a woman in a leadership position at Dartmouth.
“I’m still young in my career, and I still want to work my way up,” Lascelle said. “But I hope I can be a positive influence to [women] to show them that you can advance forward and add value to a program.”
Lascelle said her favorite part of her job is “the student interaction,” including hosting “fun pop-ups” and “listening to student feedback and participating with [Dartmouth] Student Government in the student advisory committee meetings.”
She added that Dartmouth Dining works to “stay on trend with what’s popular” when deciding both everyday menus and special event offerings.
“Right now, you probably see that we introduced the pho bar and the ramen bar [at ’53 Commons],” she said. “Anything that’s customizable, we get it, that’s the popular, trending thing right now.”
That trend of customization extends to making sure every student’s dietary needs are accommodated in the dining experience.
Dartmouth Dining registered dietician Beth Rosenberger described some of her day-to-day tasks as helping students navigate healthy eating in college and training staff on how to accommodate for allergies.
Lately Rosenberger has been working on a new “huge project” to switch over to a “new menu system” that students can access online.
“I don’t think there’s ever a single day that is the same as the day before, and that is what makes it interesting,” Rosenberger said.
Guest experience manager Haishan Li said her main role in Dartmouth Dining is to “make sure that operations run smoothly and the customers are satisfied with the kitchen.”
She added that she attends “conferences to see what other colleges are doing” to get ideas from other schools’ dining options.
Between themed dinners, special events and interactions with students, the women of Dartmouth Dining are grateful to be part of such a “wonderful team,” Li said.
Mira Wissman '29 is a reporter from Bethesda, MD., and is majoring in Neuroscience.
