Chef Lewis selected as 2024 Instructor of the Year

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah Technical College’s Culinary Arts Instructor Chef Alex Lewis has been selected as STC’s 2024 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year. The Rick Perkins Award for Excellence in Technical Instruction honors outstanding faculty members at each of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) institutions. She will represent the College in the regional and statewide competitions.

“Chef Lewis is creative and innovative educator who is committed to providing the best educational experience possible for our students,” said STC President Dr. Kathy Love. “She is always willing to help her students and is a very committed, involved instructor. She is a recognized leader and innovator in her industry and has applied that to her work at Savannah Technical College.”

Chef Lewis is a lead Culinary Arts instructor, who began teaching with Savannah Tech in 2015 and brings a wealth of restaurant and hospitality experience to her students. She was previously an adjunct professor with Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta. She started her career initially as a Dekalb County Public Schools educator and was named Production Chef of the Year for the Atlanta Public Schools in 2008. Prior to Savannah Tech, Chef Lewis was the chef manager for Sodexo. She also worked as an assistant catering chef at Home Appétit/Trilogy, a fabrication chef for A Dinner A’fare, and has worked as a private chef and event coordinator.

She has a master’s in education from Cambridge College, a bachelor’s degree in policy studies from Georgia State University, and an associate’s degree from Le Cordon Bleu. She is a Certified Culinary Educator (2023) and Certified Executive Chef (2021) with the American Culinary Federation (ACF). She is a member of ACF Chefs of the Low Country, Les Dames Escoffier (Savannah and Coastal Georgia), and Chaîne des Rôtisseurs (Savannah Bailliage).

The Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award has been an ongoing statewide event since 1991 and is designed to recognize technical college instructors who make significant contributions to technical education through innovation and leadership in their fields. Formerly known as the Commissioner’s Award of Excellence, the Rick Perkins Award was renamed in memory and honor of Thomas “Rick” Perkins, an instructor at West Central Technical College, now West Georgia Technical College, who received the Commissioner’s Award of Excellence prior to his untimely death. TCSG provides oversight for the Rick Perkins Award program through the system office’s programming staff, the presidents’ Academic Improvement committee and the state planning committee.

Links to Savannah Tech’s previous honorees for GOAL (student), Perkins (instructor) and EAGLE (adult education student) are available at www.savannahtech.edu/honorees.

About 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 the ACF 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.

#2426 | January 29, 2024