What's Cookin' at the Maricopa Skill Center?
Bill Collins - A Chef's Chef

Award-winning chef Bill Collins has a mission: to share his knowledge with the students at the Maricopa Skill Center. As an instructor in the Introduction to Culinary Arts program at the Skill Center, the vocational arm of GateWay Community College, Bill's philosophy is simple: "I want to share my knowledge, because everything I know I learned from someone else who has helped me achieve many goals."

Bill Collins enjoys a brief break from his duties as Chef at the Maricopa Skill Center

Chef Collins, who came to the Skill Center in June of 2002, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He honed his skills at restaurants and resorts across the country and on board cruise and merchant ships that took him around the world: Among other positions he has held, he has managed restaurants for the Olive Garden in Chicago and Reno; was general manager and owner of Cora's New Southern Café in Moreno Valley, California; was assistant restaurant manager at the Adams Mark Hotel Resort in Indianapolis, Indiana; and held the post of captain/assistant dining room manager of the prestigious Golf Club at the Broadmoor Hotel Resort in Colorado Springs.

Bill's previous teaching experience was at the Harry Lundeburg School of Seamanship in Piney Point, Maryland where he taught as a substitute Chef Instructor between degrees at the Culinary Institute of America. Since coming to the Maricopa Skill Center, he has consistently distinguished himself through awards and community service.

Currently Bill writes two food columns a month, one for the Arizona Restaurateur Magazine, the second for the local Arizona Chef's Association of Greater Phoenix local chapter newsletter. His volunteer activities brought him to the notice of the entire chapter who voted him runner-up for the Phoenix American Culinary Federation Chef of the Year in 2004. The previous year he won the Culinarian of the Year award for 2003. He and his Maricopa Skill Center colleague Richard Sandoval, were the Maricopa Skill Center's winners of the Innovation of the Year award for their improvements to the Center's Culinary Arts program. Meanwhile, he continues to mentor students at the Culinary Institute of America, and be an active member National Restaurant Association.

The six-month Introduction to Culinary Arts Program at the Maricopa Skill Center, as revamped by Bill and his colleague, is designed for beginners and those who have little experience. The program has four areas of concentration which are: Pantry (cold food preparation), Baking (all products are made from scratch like pies, dough's, cookies, breads, puddings, cakes, pasties, dessert sauces etc.,) Grill (open for breakfast and lunch producing all grilled menu items) and the Hot Foods section of the course providing a different meal daily for all students, staff and faculty. All daily specials produced in the hot foods section come with a protein, starch, vegetable, bread, dessert and a 16 oz beverage for only $4.50. The Skill Center prepares foods for off campus events for as many as 500 and as few as one. They do not deliver and are closed on weekends.

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