Have Toque, Will Travel…

Djibouti, Africa…The Seychelle Islands…and now Ketichkan, Alaska. For Chef Dale Cox, traveling is a part of life that he has embraced with open arms.

Dale’s story starts at the Louisville Sullivan University campus during the Winter Quarter of 2005 where he enrolled in the Culinary Arts program. A mere year later, when the culinary program at the Lexington campus began accepting students, Dale made the choice to transfer to the Lexington campus, a closer commute to his Stanford, Kentucky home.

As an active-duty army reservist, Dale always knew that being deployed was a possibility, but that possibility turned into reality when he was deployed in the Fall of 2006 to Djibouti, Africa, and later the Seychelle Islands, putting his studies on the back burner for a short time.

As an Army Progress Reporter with the Civil Affairs Department, Dale is responsible for being a goodwill ambassador for the United States Army. His assignments include participation in special projects to benefit the local people of their host nation. Perhaps Dale’s favorite mission while he was deployed was in the Seychelles where he and his team were able to build a playground for the island’s children. Utilizing his previous experience in construction, Dale was able to build an extravagant play area for children. Additionally, while being deployed in the Seychelles, Dale was able to become very familiar with many new cultures and way of preparing cuisine – a skill he’s sure to use in his culinary pursuits.

One his deployment was over, Dale was back to Sullivan University to finish his culinary degree, which he will graduate with an Associate of Culinary Arts degree in June 2008. Since it is Dale’s last quarter in the program, he will be traveling yet again – this time it will be solely for his academic pursuits, as he will be participating in an externship in Ketchikan, Alaska at The Alaska Fish House.