LEWISTON – There’s been a three-for-one special at Bates College Dining Services this spring. A new director has been named and there has been recognition for excellence by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Association of College and University Food Services.

Christine L. Schwartz, whose 19 years in the food service industry include six at Bates, succeeds Robert Volpi as dining services director. Schwartz served as associate director of dining services under Volpi and as interim director since his departure a year ago.

Meanwhile, in April, Bates Dining Services shared a third-place award in the 2003 NACUFS Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards. Bates’ annual Harvest Dinner won the Small School-division award for Bates in the category Residence Hall Dining/Special Event/Theme Dinner.

Also in April, the EPA included the Dining Services composting program in its “Best Management Practices for College and Universities” catalog. Bates joined Yale, Harvard and 15 other institutions in this catalog intended as a resource for “green” campus practices.

Schwartz, an Auburn resident, was the college’s pick from a field of three finalists, says Terry Beckmann, the college’s treasurer, controller and vice president for budgeting and accounting. “She knows our institution, and she is able to deal with a lot of constituencies – whether it be our board of trustees, or alumni on Reunion weekend, or a student event,” said Beckmann.

A graduate of Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Va., Schwartz, 37, has managed food service operations in both the for-profit and educational sectors, the latter including positions at Sweet Briar College in Virginia and St. Mary’s Honor College in Maryland.

The Loyal E. Horton Dining Award is the first time Bates has placed in seven years of participating.

The EPA recognizes a composting program that Bates first instituted in 1994. Designed to reduce the amount of waste the college was sending to the landfill and (in the form of waste put through garbage disposals) into the sewage treatment system, the program is comprehensive.

Savings from the program have included about $1,000 a year in trash disposal fees and some 15,000 gallons of water use per day.