Chris Munkel has recently been appointed the new general manager of Dining Services at Sodexho for UTM.

Chris Munkel is the son of the late Mike Munkel, former director of Dining Services. Mike Munkel died in October 2005.

Munkel is looking forward to bringing new ideas to UTM. “I will take the great foundation and innovation which my father has brought to UTM and build upon it.”

Originally from Grand Rapids, Minn., Munkel attended culinary school at the Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Since then, he has accumulated 21 years of experience in the food industry, seven of which were spent working in four and five star restaurants and hotels in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Kentucky. Spending 14 years in the university dining segment of Sodexho, Munkel has worked with universities throughout the Midwest and Southeast and most recently travelled throughout the Southeast as a regional chef.

Munkel has also been involved with the National Association of College and University Food Services and the American Chef Association and received national awards in the Culinary Cooking Challenge.

When asked if there was anything he wanted the students, faculty, staff and community to know about himself, Munkel replied, “I would like everyone to know that I am not here to ‘fill my father’s shoes’.

UTM and the Martin community knew Mike Munkel for 14 years, I knew him my whole life, knowing him that long, especially as your father, makes you realize you can never fill the shoes of a man that great. Although, I will promise to always do my best to meet the expectations of the UTM students, faculty and staff while using my expertise to bring new innovative ideas and keep UTM at the pinnacle of dining service programs. With that, I will use what my father has taught me to hopefully make a fraction of the impact Mike Munkel made on, what I am now proud to call my home, Martin.”

After visiting Martin for the past 14 years, Munkel glad to call it home.

“Sometimes in life you are lucky enough to end up in a place that embraces you and gives you more love than you could ever give back, that place for me is Martin, Tenn. I am lucky to be part of this community. Thank you everybody.”