More Menu Options, New Look Coming to Hogan Dining Center

Starting this fall, student diners will no longer get their meals from a cafeteria serving line.

Instead, the Hogan Dining Center will have food serving areas—several of them—each devoted to a menu option, with more choices that emphasize foods not usually considered cafeteria fare—healthier, fresher ingredients and dishes made to order.

The Hogan Dining Center, which occupies most of the second floor of the Towers Residence Hall and serves as the main dining facility for students who purchase a meal plan, is undergoing major renovations. The new menu and serving style will complement its new appearance.

Instead of the kitchen being hidden from sight, as it has been, walls will come down so students will be able to see their food as it’s prepared. Gone also will be the institutional uniformity that marked the space as a cafeteria. A variety of wall and floor coverings, varied ceiling heights, comfortable seating arrangements that include padded booths and tables, and accent lighting will impart an inviting look to the room and make mealtimes more convivial and relaxing.

Food stations will be devoted to specific cuisines and cooking methods. At the Mongolian grill station students will select raw ingredients that a chef will then cook to order on a large, freestanding griddle.

According to Greg Fuhrman, design and construction project manager for the Office of Facilities Management, the University and its food service vendor, Aramark, are working together to provide not just an upgrade, but the best possible campus dining experience.

“The aim is to give people more choices, which is a growing trend in higher education dining,” said Fuhrman, adding that the revamped dining facility will also meet the greater demand from the nearly 400 additional residents of the new Des Places residence hall, which opens this fall.

Work is also under way on a 2,300-square-foot, two-story, glass-fronted addition to Towers that will house a convenience store on the first floor and additional seating for the Hogan Dining Center on the second. Built between the center and left wings jutting from the structure’s north face, the addition will occupy a former bicycle-parking area, just to the east of the main entrance. The convenience store will be relocated and will sell a wider range of food and other necessities.

Duquesne and Aramark are sharing costs of the project, but Duquesne will own the facilities. Fuhrman explained that Aramark hired the architect and general contractor, but received lots of input during the planning process from the University. “They tailored it to Duquesne’s tastes and desires,” Fuhrman said.

Towers is currently unoccupied except for the Athletics offices in the Keller Fieldhouse.   Along with the Dining Center renovations, Towers is undergoing a complete remodeling of bathrooms and several floors of residences, an ongoing project that started on the top floor and is descending yearly. All construction and the dining center projects are expected to be completed by Wednesday, Aug. 1.