JACKSONVILLE -- September 6, 2002 -- Heading into the Jack Hopper Dining Hall at Jacksonville State University this semester, chances are you might see a new face underneath the white hat. Chef Paul hasn’t left JSU, but he has brought in Chef Shaun Morrison to help him out while he travels this fall.

Chef Shaun, as he is called, is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He brings with him a youthful energy as well as 25 years of kitchen experience. He first caught the cooking bug as an “Army brat” who got a firsthand look at the mess tent and knew that’s what he wanted to do.

“My first meal,” he confides, “ was an anniversary breakfast in bed for my parents. I cooked scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.”

Although his specialty is French cuisine, Chef Shaun’s favorite food to cook is Italian.

At lunchtime Thursday, Chef Shaun personally fed 172 of the 350 patrons who walked through the doors of Jack Hopper Dining Hall his garlic chicken alfredo over fettuccine with fresh garlic bread--fabulous numbers, especially when you consider the competition of free barbeque sponsored by Multicultural Services outside his door.

“They are coming to my house,” Chef Shaun says proudly, referring to the exhibition setup manned by either himself or Chef Paul during meal times.

But there is more to this man who can expertly dice tomatoes without a nick of the skin, or sauté cloves of garlic in his skillet.

He moved to Calhoun County a mere month ago with no job in sight. He was in the company of his wife, Dr. Julianne White, who had recently been hired as an assistant professor of English at JSU.

He loves to go fly-fishing, even ties his own flies. Once they are settled, he and his wife plan to explore the nearby lakes and waters of Alabama. For his birthday, Julianne gave him a jar with a magnet that attaches to the fridge. The jar is labeled “new boat fund.”

Although he had offers of employment from The Barn and The Victoria, as well as a job offer as a kitchen manager at another place, Chef Shaun took one look at the state-of-the-art setup of JSU’s dining hall and the interactive environment it offered and knew that was where he wanted to work.

“Things just fell into place,” he explains.