Jun. 22--Hampton Roads chefs and food-service workers expressed shock and sadness Friday after learning that Johnson & Wales University, a highly successful culinary school, will close its Norfolk campus in 2006. 

The Norfolk campus of Johnson & Wales has produced 2,000 graduates in its 20 years, and 100 percent of those have been employed within 60 days of graduation, said Marisa Marsey, director of university relations. 

"It's hard now for most schools to make that kind of claim," Marsey said. 

Johnson & Wales, with a main campus in Providence, R.I., announced Thursday it would close its Norfolk and Charleston, S.C., campuses in 2006 to form a new, consolidated campus in Charlotte, N.C. 

Graduates of the Norfolk branch have kept area restaurants supplied with chefs for the past two decades. 

The Dining Room at Ford's Colony in Williamsburg which executive chef David Everett said is the Peninsula's only 5-diamond restaurant employs nine Johnson & Wales graduates. 

"We're definitely sad to see it go," Everett said. "But it's nice to know they're not just closing it and walking away -- they're going to let people finish their degrees. It's a shame because it's a good resource so close." 

Any student now enrolled and freshmen entering this fall will be able to earn either their associate degree in culinary arts a two-year program or a bachelor's degree in food-service management a four-year program. The school just added the bachelor's degree a year ago. 

Students entering in fall 2003 will also have time to complete training for the associate degree in culinary arts. The last Johnson & Wales classes will graduate from the Norfolk campus in 2006. 

A Charlotte economic development group, led by Bank of America, persuaded the college to move to the biggest city in North Carolina. Charlotte is about a seven-hour drive from Hampton Roads. 

"I don't know that that puts them out of reach for externs," Everett said. 

Externs are students who have studied academics and done culinary lab work at Johnson & Wales, then study under and cook with a working chef. 

Ken Sherwood, chef at Norfolk's Harbor Club on the 21st floor of the Bank of America building and chairman of the board of the Tidewater Chefs Association, said he has four Johnson & Wales graduates and one extern working at his restaurant. He was surprised to hear about the closing. 

"It affects me because I'm very involved with the school in taking on externships I'm one of their preferred sites," Sherwood said. "Externs will go in to the restaurant and learn and apply their craft in the hard-knocks world." 

Sherwood was saddened by news of the closing for another reason. 

"Johnson & Wales to me is an additional resource," he said. "It's like a library for cooks." 

Marsey, the director of university relations, emphasized that Johnson & Wales will keep some kind of presence in Hampton Roads. 

A team of university officials is studying options now to outline a strategy for that presence here after the school moves to Charlotte. 

Half of the Johnson & Wales Norfolk freshman class commutes, and the other half about 200 students lives in dorms on the Old Dominion University campus. 

There are no classes in the summer. The school's three terms are fall, winter and spring. 

Culinary labs offered include baking and pastry, stocks and sauces, American regional cuisine and classic French cuisine. Regular classes include nutrition, sanitation, public speaking and food and beverage cost control. 

"Johnson & Wales taught me the front of the house (the dining room), the back of the house (the kitchen) and the bottom line," said Sam McGann, chef at the Blue Point in Duck, N.C., on the Outer Banks. 

Math, English and science classes are also taught at the fully accredited university. 

David Barney, a Johnson & Wales student who works part time at Boulevard Restaurant & Tavern on Warwick Boulevard in Newport News, described his reaction to the school closing: 

"I was shocked. It's a great program, and I think a lot of people from the area are going to miss out on a good education." 

The school occupies four buildings at the Norfolk site. Gertrude Johnson and Mary Wales founded Johnson & Wales as a business school in Providence in 1914 with one student and one typewriter. The university now has five campuses: in Providence, Norfolk, Charleston, North Miami and Denver. The Norfolk campus employs 55 full-time faculty and staff. 

The Norfolk students received recognition last winter when they fed the athletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. 

The Norfolk branch is still taking student applications for admission. The admissions officer is Gail Thomas of Yorktown. 

Thomas also works part time at the Dining Room at Ford's Colony. As a pastry chef there, the Johnson & Wales graduate with an associate degree in culinary arts also works in the pantry. She's one of the nine Johnson & Wales graduates there. 

"They all thought it was a very, very sad thing," Thomas said. "They've been able to hire some really quality workers who will be here for a long time. The students from here want to stay here. 

"It was like a dream come true for me to start another career doing something that I absolutely love, and it opened a door for me to work at a restaurant with high-caliber recognition. 

"It saddens me that so many others are going to miss out on that." 

Prospective students should call her at 853-3508, Ext. 255, to enroll. 

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