Mary P. Bartholomew, PhD, has been involved in a combination of business and education adventures for many years.  She has taught in many different grade levels, to include middle school, high school and college, as well as owning her own catering business and selling wholesale food to restaurants. Her first teaching experience was at a vocational high school in Laurel, MS, where she taught Commercial Foods to high school students using industry specific equipment.  Dr. Bartholomew is certified by the American Culinary Federation as Certified Culinary Educator (CCE) and is an approved certification evaluator; she is certified by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute as a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE); and she is certified by the National Restaurant Association as a Foodservice Management Professional (FMP) , as well as a ServSafe instructor and proctor.