Recently named manager of Cohen House, Julia Amborski ’91 has No Reservations

“I came to Rice aspiring to be a mechanical engineer
— that lasted about a semester,” Amborski recalled.
“I found out I was more of a people person and fell
in love with the business working here at the club.”
She worked her way from waiter to captain to head waiter
and after graduation continued to work in the field, taking
a position with a local catering company as an event planner
and manager.

Five years later, she found herself back inside the hedges
helping Sammy’s develop an on-campus catering program,
which eventually became Rice Catering.

“We were running the campus catering operation out
of the small kitchen at Sammy’s on top of breakfast,
lunch, dinner, late-night and training table,” Amborski
said. “When Mark [Ditman] came here to take over as
food service manager, he helped spearhead that project to
get catering moved out of Sammy’s over to what is now
Hick’s Kitchen, and then we set up our own department.”

“It was essentially a small startup business and remarkably
successful,” said Ditman, who now is director of Housing
and Dining. “Julia clearly had the skills, knowledge
and understanding to get it up and running and make it very
successful.”

Amborski moved to Cohen House in July of 1999, taking on
the duties of assistant manager and the task of invigorating
the student waiter program.

“It was like coming home again,” Amborski said.

Since she returned to Rice, Amborski’s service and
commitment to the university and the people she works with
has been clear. She garners praise from her co-workers for
her professionalism, attention to detail and knowledge of
the business, traits that earned her the Distinguished Employee
Award in 1996. And in 1998 when a co-worker lost all her
possessions in a fire the week before Christmas, Amborski
helped organize a campus-wide effort to get donations of
cash, food, clothing and even Christmas gifts for the family.

Of her commitment to the Rice community, Amborski said,
“I think once you graduate from Rice, you always have
a special bond to the university.”

Amborski looks forward to a fruitful future here and has
plenty of ideas for Cohen House.

During the past year, the club has undergone not only a
change in management but also a change in appearance, with
recently completed renovations adding an elevator and a
reconfigured upstairs meeting and dining area.

“We are looking at developing conference services at
the club, using private dining rooms for morning and afternoon
meetings,” Amborski said. “The new changes allow
for more flexibility in terms of use of space.”

Other possible changes Amborski sees on the horizon include
new catering menus and special events to spark the interest
of members. “We have a wonderful core base, but we’d
like to see some of our younger members involved. We’re
thinking of having special events marketed to them,”
she said. Ideas she has in mind include a Mother’s
Day brunch, an afternoon high tea, a vintner’s dinner
or even a dinner theater with the Rice Players.