Article By: Johnica Morrow
Cedar Point would like to welcome it's newest staff member: Mrs. Airicca Roddy! Airicca has been hired to fill a number of roles here at the station. She will be working on data management for our library and scientific collections as well as serving as the station's librarian. In the off season, she will be doing promotional/public relations work for the station. In addition to her many other hats, she will be wearing that of the Head Chief and Kitchen Manager. She is currently in the process of hiring kitchen staff for the 2014 field season.
Airicca comes to us from College Station, Texas, where she has been working in a bakery for the last year. Prior to her work in College Station, Airicca was a librarian at the Burkburnett City Library in Burkburnett, Texas. Airicca holds a bachelors of science degree in Organismal Biology from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. Airicca also has public outreach experience from her involvement with Bark for Life and Rockys Creek Ranch and Horse Rescue among a few other non-profits. Airicca will be living in Lincoln while her husband, Nathan Roddy, works on his master's degree in hydrology. Other members of the Roddy family include their cat, Luna, and their dog, Ninja.
Airicca has many exciting plans for the CPBS kitchen, including an initiative to serve food that is not only delicious, but also healthy. Airicca has a passion for food and she loves experimenting with ways to make yummy foods less bad for you. She is also hoping to find ways to make the station more sustainable in terms of how the kitchen is run.
The following is a brief interview with Airicca about her plans for CPBS.
1) What plans do you have for managing scientific resources at CPBS?
Soon we will be in the process of creating a searchable database in RefWorks that should be accessible from our homepage. You will be able to search for bibliographic information published that relates to research conducted here at Cedar Point. This information will be useful for students taking classes and working on research projects at the station. Our long-term goal is to have full papers digitally available for students, but we will start with providing a working research bibliography before getting to that point.
2) How will you be involved with promotional work for the station?
I will be working closely with our Associate Director, Jon Garbisch, to recruit UNL students for classes and as summer workers here at Cedar Point.
3) What changes can students and researchers expect next summer in terms of their dining experience at CPBS?
Well, as I'm from Texas, you can certainly expect less traditional Nebraskan foods. (*She laughs*) Let's start with my favorite meal, breakfast! We are hoping for more than eggs and bacon/sausage every morning. I'm wanting to expand our breakfast offerings to include things like homemade pancakes, muffins, and french toast once or twice a week. I'll also be introducing some Tex-mex items such as breakfast tacos and migas.
As far as lunch is concerned, I've heard a lot of complaints from students and staff members about lunches being too heavy. This makes me feel like we need to be offering lunches that are lighter while still offering all of the calories people need to conduct field work. We are kicking around a lot of ideas about what to serve. At the moment, I'm thinking about things like herb-citrus roasted chicken, and minestrone. As always, we will have a full salad bar available for both lunch and dinner, but I'm planning to make more soups available on some of those cool, rainy days in the early and late summer sessions.
Plans for dinner are similar to those for lunch. We will be trying to give people the fuel for all of the activities they are doing without giving them foods that will bog them down out in the field. The goal is to have lots of fresh foods available and to home-make as many things as we can. We want to avoid foods with lots of additives and preservatives which aren't healthy.
The following is a brief interview with Airicca about her plans for CPBS.
1) What plans do you have for managing scientific resources at CPBS?
Soon we will be in the process of creating a searchable database in RefWorks that should be accessible from our homepage. You will be able to search for bibliographic information published that relates to research conducted here at Cedar Point. This information will be useful for students taking classes and working on research projects at the station. Our long-term goal is to have full papers digitally available for students, but we will start with providing a working research bibliography before getting to that point.
2) How will you be involved with promotional work for the station?
I will be working closely with our Associate Director, Jon Garbisch, to recruit UNL students for classes and as summer workers here at Cedar Point.
3) What changes can students and researchers expect next summer in terms of their dining experience at CPBS?
Well, as I'm from Texas, you can certainly expect less traditional Nebraskan foods. (*She laughs*) Let's start with my favorite meal, breakfast! We are hoping for more than eggs and bacon/sausage every morning. I'm wanting to expand our breakfast offerings to include things like homemade pancakes, muffins, and french toast once or twice a week. I'll also be introducing some Tex-mex items such as breakfast tacos and migas.
As far as lunch is concerned, I've heard a lot of complaints from students and staff members about lunches being too heavy. This makes me feel like we need to be offering lunches that are lighter while still offering all of the calories people need to conduct field work. We are kicking around a lot of ideas about what to serve. At the moment, I'm thinking about things like herb-citrus roasted chicken, and minestrone. As always, we will have a full salad bar available for both lunch and dinner, but I'm planning to make more soups available on some of those cool, rainy days in the early and late summer sessions.
Plans for dinner are similar to those for lunch. We will be trying to give people the fuel for all of the activities they are doing without giving them foods that will bog them down out in the field. The goal is to have lots of fresh foods available and to home-make as many things as we can. We want to avoid foods with lots of additives and preservatives which aren't healthy.
4) On a scale of 1 to super-awesome-ecstatic, how excited are you about working for CPBS?
Orange hedgehog.
5) Any final thoughts you'd like to leave for those planning to spend part or all of next summer eating your food?
Students, if you are bad, we WILL serve you fruit punch...staff and faculty will laugh at your misfortune as they sip their lemonade in spite of your misery. Also, if anyone is rude to my staff, they aren't getting dessert! Seriously, we will be working hard so you guys need to act like courteous adults!
Thanks again for the fun interview, Airicca! We can't wait to see what you accomplish in your new (multiple) position(s)! Welcome to CPBS!!!
As mentioned previously, we will be looking to staff the kitchen for next summer with more UNL students! If you are a student interested in working in the kitchen next summer (or fall break of this year!), be sure to shoot Airicca an e-mail at cpbs2@unl.edu.
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