One might rightly expect a campus director of dining services to nourish students.
At ACPHS, she also nurtures them.
Alisa Mathis-Peterson is not just concerned with satisfying appetites – although, to be sure, she is concerned with that. She also wants to satisfy students’ needs to be comfortable and at home while on campus.
It’s a matter of empathy for her and a calling.
“I was that student years ago, I was that parent years ago,” she said, responding to a question about what motivates her. “This is not just a job for me, this is my passion.”
It was not a job she expected to have all her life. As the fifth of 12 children whose father died when she was young, Mathis-Peterson initially worked in dining services to pay her way through college, where she majored in history.
But she liked it, excelled at it, and stayed. She was a district manager of dining services for 38 years at the University at Albany, with more than 17,000 students, then thought she would take an easy “retirement job” at the much smaller Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnstown in 2013. She found it wasn’t really easier; she just had more jobs to fill herself. It was also an hour commute each way. She applied to ACPHS when she heard of the job opening in 2017; it was five minutes from her home. While a similar size to FMCC, she quickly saw the ACPHS community was unexpectedly close-knit.
“This is a different atmosphere, and it was one that was so easy to embrace,” she said.
She has made the campus home and contributed it to its comfort for everyone else since.
In the area defined by her job description, Mathis-Peterson oversees about 20 employees and focuses on giving students what she calls a “wow” every semester – something new, unexpected and exciting. Think of the move of the Innovation Station outside the main kitchen, with a new concept every week. Or the availability of Starbucks coffee. Or the new Boost app that allows diners to order ahead for quick pick-up.
“The students should see that we’re constantly making some sort of change,” she said.
And in the catering department – something that takes up a significant amount of her time at both ACPHS and Albany Law School – Mathis-Peterson recalled that she had to earn the trust of College department heads, showing that she could put on a spread at least as good as an outside vendor.
But when you talk to others, it’s clear that Mathis-Peterson’s “wow” factor really comes from her compassion.
“I have the opportunity to work with Alisa on quite a bit, including Orientation, Family Weekend, and weekly student events, all of which she gives her 110% effort to and always with a smile on her face,” said Logan Gee, ACPHS director of Student Engagement and Wellness. “Her flexibility, creativity, leadership, and, most of all, heart, really bring everything together, and I know ACPHS would not be what it is without her.”
Sitting outside the Robison Dining Hall last week, Mathis-Peterson knew every student who passed by name. They called out to her and waved. She asked, with genuine interest, how they were doing.
Nurturing during a Pandemic
The best illustration of Mathis-Peterson’s character may have come in the spring of 2020, during the early days of COVID-19, before vaccines were developed and in-person interactions had ended. The dining hall remained open, providing grab-and-go meals for about 40 students on campus. On staff were Mathis-Peterson, an assistant, and a chef.
People were scared then, on and off campus. Some students got sick and were quarantined. Mathis-Peterson would find out what they wanted, get it together, bring it to their rooms, knock on their doors, and leave. She said she covered up with goggles and a hoodie: “Who knew what to think?” Still, for her, keeping away was not an option as long as a student needed to eat.
Student Isabella Mortier was one of the people who received Mathis-Peterson’s care at that time. The following semester, when Mortier was well, she posted a shout-out to Mathis-Peterson on Facebook. In part, it said, “For those who don’t know, I was quarantined at school for a month with a severe case of COVID last spring. No one else was on campus, but Alisa stayed to take care of me. She texted me every day to see how I was doing and sent many prayers. She brought me food every day and never forgot to bring her special chocolate cake and juice (my favorite)!
“Alisa has the kindest, most pure heart and I owe her my life.”
Talking about that time, Mathis-Peterson got teary-eyed about the special connections she made. She spoke of one student without naming her; she met her parents when the student received her white coat in a later semester. The parents said she would always be part of their family.
“I felt for this child,” Mathis-Peterson said, adding that she was concerned about the isolation that young people were enduring. “I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be in one of those rooms.”
Mathis-Peterson said that more recently someone told her she reminded them of Margaret Kirkpatrick, a woman who ran the College’s cafeteria in the 1950s and ‘60s and lived on campus until she died in the mid-1990s. Mrs. K., as she was called, was beloved as a surrogate mother and grandmother on campus. Packy McGraw, who hired Mathis-Peterson, told her it was the ultimate compliment.
“It just warms my heart,” she said.