Dinner Dialogues

Bravo eats Beaufort stew ... with a side order of lively conversation.

By Chris Horn

It was halfway through the fall semester, just two days before fall break, and students in Prof. Van Kornegay's journalism class were having an animated discussion about where they where headed for the long weekend.

Then Kornegay brought up the topic of the hour—the students' just-completed video documentaries—and silence chilled the room. But not for long. Kornegay, spearing another boiled shrimp on his fork, talked with the students gathered around his dining room table about the art of interviewing people on camera, and the chatter and laughter soon returned.

This wasn't a regular classroom session of Journalism 464, Graphics for Visual Communications, but rather an after-hours meal at the professor's house that the University calls Dinner Dialogues. Carolina professors in every discipline—from chemistry to music—host these Dinner Dialogues in their homes, which are sponsored by Carolina's Office of Parents Programs.

“Dinner Dialogues give you an opportunity to see students outside of campus. It's a way for students and their professors to build a little more rapport with each other,” said Kornegay, who, with his wife, Patty, served up a steaming platter of Beaufort stew (shrimp, potatoes, corn, and sausage).

“One of the advantages of it is you can find a moment to reinforce a point from the classroom, and everyone seems to listen a little better and interact a little more when you're eating shrimp instead of going through a PowerPoint lecture together in class. Maybe that's the secret: food and lessons go down easier together.”

Jacinta Chen, a visual communications major from Richmond, Va., and one of Kornegay's students, liked the informal setting. “You get to spend time with other students on a more personal level,” she said.

Not every faculty member makes Dinner Dialogues an extension of the classroom, though. Kornegay and his students spent the evening critiquing each other's documentaries, but some classes just get together to relax.

“It's a nice opportunity to kind of let your hair down,” said Tina Stallard, an assistant professor of music who instructs voice students, mostly one on one.

“Having them all to my house for dinner at the same time is a good opportunity for the freshmen, particularly, to meet the older students. Freshmen can feel intimidated by older students' musical ability, so it's a way to encourage mentoring relationships among them.”

Lorie James, a research associate in the Arnold School of Public Health, is also a University 101 instructor. She believes in investing time in her students' lives outside of class.

“For instance, I try to participate with my students in half of their community service hours for University 101,” she said. “Dinner Dialogues are a nice way to step outside the normal routine. I ask them what kind of food they haven't ever had—one time we ended up getting Thai takeout.”

About 1,000 students were invited to participate in Dinner Dialogues last year, its first year of operation, and Parents Programs director Melissa Gentry expects even more will be invited this year. A special fund created and sustained by parent contributions reimburses faculty members for food expenses. Parents are very supportive of the program, Gentry said, because they know it benefits students.

“You might think you're just a number at a large university, but then you get an invitation to your professor's house for dinner. It makes you realize that the professor cares about you and not just about talking for an hour in class,” Gentry said.