SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah Technical College will host an interactive event led by Savannah Culinary Institute instructors with hands-on demonstrations paired with wines, known as Bistro Savoir Interactif, at 5:45 p.m., on Thursday, March 23 in the Eckburg Auditorium (5717 White Bluff Road, Savannah, 31405).

Interactif 2023 will feature four destinations stations along with appetizers and desserts. Guests will travel around the world with elegant tasting opportunities paired with wine selections at the destination stations with take-home recipes. Three stations will feature chef demonstrations where guests work alongside chefs to learn techniques of making artisan sourdough crackers, bacalao fritters, and a mole spice rub. International cuisine will include Brazil, France, and Spain.

Cost is $125 per person with proceeds supporting the Patrick Ansley Williams Memorial Scholarship at Savannah Technical College. Seating is limited to 100. Advance tickets may be purchased online: www.savannahtech.edu/BistroSavoirInteractif.

Guests will enjoy artisan sourdough crackers paired with cheese, house-made charcuterie and accoutrements; traditional bacalao fritters paired with harissa aioli; mole-braised short ribs with yucca gratin along with artisan breads, cheeses, charcuterie, and artisan chocolates. The event is 21+ and all IDs will be checked. No one under 21, please.

This year Sidney Lance, owner of Rhoot Man, will lead a tour of shrubs with craft cocktails. He was the lead bartender at the new Kimpton Hotel (Pacci) in Savannah. He has been voted Best Bartender in Savannah. He has designed bars, created menus and provided staff training. He has consulted distilleries for pairings and started his own line of mixers with Rhoot Man in 2021.  

This event has raised nearly $70,000 to benefit the Patrick Ansley Williams Memorial Scholarship Fund. In 2020, the College developed an alternate event for this scholarship with its Big Pig Fundraiser sales, which have raised an additional $18,000.

This scholarship was started in 2012 by Bill Dickinson to honor the late Patrick Williams. Five $1,000 scholarships are awarded annually to STC culinary and hospitality students with a minimum 3.0 grade point average, who are selected by the College’s scholarship committee. Funds are applied toward tuition, fees, books and required supplies.

STC scholarship funds are managed by the Savannah Technical College Foundation, a 501 (c)3 organization whose sole purpose is to raise private funds to support the mission of Savannah Technical College. Gifts are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

With support from the Savannah Technical College Foundation, the College purchased 7 West Bay Street as the new downtown location for an expansion of its Culinary Arts program, which will more than double the available instructional space. Senior level (second year) students will take classes and work in the bakery and restaurant. The hands-on, real-world experience in the restaurant/bakery will allow students the opportunity to apply techniques learned in the classroom to practical use, complete a required field placement, and gain first-hand experience in restaurant operations.

New students are admitted to the baking and pastry program year-round. For more information about Culinary Arts at Savannah Tech visit: www.facebook.com/SavannahCulinaryInstitute.

About the Savannah Technical College’s Savannah Culinary Institute

The Savannah Culinary Institute, an American Culinary Federation-accredited culinary arts program, has been described as the “best in the U.S.A” by its ACF accreditation review board. According to his committee chair, the Culinary Institute of Savannah, offering ACF-accredited diploma and degree programs in culinary arts, has gone “well over and above the standards and expectations for a technical college teaching facility.” The committee recommended that the program receive the maximum accreditation time of seven years, when the average is three years. Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry Arts associate degree graduates have a 100% placement rate in their field since 2015. The program has earned regional and national recognition with ACF-sponsored competitions. For more information visit: www.savannahtech.edu/SavannahCulinaryInstitute.

#2334 | February 16, 2023

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah Technical College has selected Kay Thigpen as its program administrator for Dental Hygiene. She will provide instruction, clinical supervision and administrative leadership for the program.

She has worked as a Dental Hygiene instructor (both full-time and part-time) since 2016 for Savannah Technical College. She has more than 20 years as a registered dental hygienist in private practice, in both general dentistry and a specialty practice in periodontics.

She is a graduate of the Dental Hygiene program when it was at Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU) with an Associate of Science in Dental Hygiene. She also earned a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene and Master of Public Health from AASU.

She is a member of the American Dental Hygiene Educators and American Dental Hygiene Association. She has held leadership positions with the Junior League of Savannah, Friends of Oatland and the Dental Hygiene advisory committee at AASU/STC.

The 83-credit-hour Associate of Science in Dental Hygiene program accepts approximately 26 students annually. Students provide clinical patient care as a component of their curriculum requirements. STC’s Dental Hygiene faculty and staff are proud of the program’s record of success, noting that most students are offered employment positions pending successful completion of two credentialing examinations and licensure. The program has been accredited for more than four decades. For AY2021, in field placement for STC’s dental hygiene graduates was 95%.

The program utilizes a competitive admissions process. Students wishing to enter the Dental Hygiene program must complete an application packet and take the TEAS test by spring for admission to the fall class.

For more information about program admission, please contact STC’s Health Sciences Academic Advisor Cindy Cole (ccole@savannahtech.edu or 912.443.5721) or Dental Hygiene Administrative Assistant DeeDee Hall (dnhall@savannahtech.edu or 912-443-4089).

The STC program in Dental Hygiene is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation [and has been granted the accreditation status of “approval without reporting requirements”] The Commission is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education. The Commission on Dental Accreditation can be contacted at (312) 440-4653 or at 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. The Commission’s website is: http://www.ada.org/en/coda.

#2333 | February 3, 2023

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Mashama Bailey, award-winning chef and co-founder of Grey Spaces, the hospitality group behind restaurants such as the critically acclaimed The Grey, Diner Bar and its all-day counterpart The Grey Market, will be honored at the 18^th annual Opportunity Award Gala, Friday, April 14, 2023. The event, hosted by the Savannah Technical College Foundation, honors deserving leaders in the local community for a lifetime of service in creating and enhancing opportunities for others to succeed.

The STC Foundation will honor Bailey for her commitment to culinary excellence, leadership for aspiring chefs, and dedication to the preservation of Southern cuisine. Event proceeds will benefit Savannah Culinary Institute students. 

Bailey opened The Grey, a Savannah-based restaurant serving Port City Southern cuisine in a 1938 art deco Greyhound Bus Terminal, with her co-founder and business partner Johno Morisano in 2014. Since its opening, the duo have garnered national attention, with Mashama being honored by the James Beard Foundation as ‘Best Chef: Southeast’ in 2019 and ‘Outstanding Chef’ in 2022. 

That same year, Bailey and Morisano brought a slice of Savannah to Texas, opening  two restaurants, Diner Bar, an all-day, full-service restaurant and bar with a lively, convivial spirit, and a new outpost of The Grey Market, a community gathering place with counter-service, display cases filled with baked goods, grab-and-go items, pantry staples and provisions, in the new Thompson Austin .

Born in the Bronx and raised in Queens with maternal roots from Waynesboro, Ga., Bailey attended grammar school in Savannah. She first learned to cook at the hands of the women in her family and her formal education includes the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City as well as LaVarenne in Burgundy, France. Prior to The Grey, Bailey’s career includes a dozen years cooking throughout New York City, the last four of which were at Prune on Manhattan’s Lower East Side under the tutelage of Gabrielle Hamilton. In 2019 and with the premier of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” (Season 6), she became the first African American chef to star on that show.

Together with Morisano, Bailey co-wrote Black, White and The Grey (Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House) which explores the business partners’ challenges navigating race, class and culture while building businesses, relationships, and community in the South.

Named “the most important chef in America” by the Financial Times, Bailey’s influence extends far beyond the restaurant. She serves as the chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation, whose mission is to honor and extend the legacy of Edna Lewis by creating opportunities for African Americans in the fields of cooking, agriculture, food studies, and storytelling.

The event gathers community and civic leaders for a celebratory evening honoring a special individual. The evening also showcases the talents of students enrolled in Savannah Technical College’s award-winning Culinary Arts programs. Past recipients include: Former Governor Zell Miller, Arnold Tenenbaum, Judge Griffin Bell, Tom Coleman, Dick Eckburg, Arthur M. Gignilliat, Jr., Bob and Alice Jepson, Howard Morrison, Stratton Leopold, Chef Jean Vendeville, Ted Kleisner, Kevin “Catfish” Jackson, and Dr. Bill Cathcart.

The event is a fundraiser for the Savannah Technical College Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that raises funds to support Savannah Technical College. STC Foundation Board members are leading the fundraising efforts. For ticket and sponsorship information, visit www.savannahtech.edu/gala or contact Robert Grant rgrant@savannahtech.edu or 912.443.3022.

Founded in 1984, the Savannah Technical College Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization that exists to raise and disburse funds to support the College’s efforts to enhance learning, workforce training and economic development in Bryan, Chatham, Effingham and Liberty counties. The Foundation also supports student success through its many privately funded scholarships.

#2332 | February 1, 2023