No New Episodes of 'You're the Chef' to Be Taped for 2005-06

Pennsylvania College of Technology and WVIA-TV have announced that the "You're the Chef" cooking series will not tape new episodes in Summer 2005. WVIA will continue airing current-season episodes through the fall on Saturdays and Sundays at 12:30 p.m.

Co-hosts of the show, Chef Paul Mach and Tom Speicher, are Penn College employees who have spent their summers creating new series episodes. Both have taken on a variety of new college assignments that now will fill their 2005 summer schedules.

One of Chef Paul's summer projects will be working with students in Penn College's School of Hospitality and School of Integrated Studies to produce a "You're the Chef" cookbook. An assistant professor, Chef Paul will work with selected culinary students to fine-tune the recipes to be offered in the new cookbook. Graphic design and communication students, under the direction of associate professor Jere R. Rentzel, will design and publish the cookbook.

Chef Paul also plans to make a number of personal appearances and to collaborate with School of Hospitality dean Frederick W. Becker and other members of the faculty on educational projects that will continue to share "You're the Chef''s" "education in fine dining" message.

"I have had a great time with our wonderful viewers around the country and the world, with the WVIA production team, with the awesome School of Hospitality students (the best collaborators a show could have), and with the Escoffier of co-hosts, Tom," Chef Paul said. "Our future will present different opportunities that will allow us to continue interacting with the public and providing new learning experiences for the students."

Speicher, the co-host and cooking novice, will spend much of his summer working on another television series, "Penn College & You."

This award-winning series is aired in more than 16 million homes nationwide via satellite and local cable television affiliates. It features Penn College faculty, students and alumni who are experts in a wide variety of topics and career fields.

In addition to the "Penn College & You" series, Speicher produces video presentations used to market and recruit new students to Penn College, a special mission affiliate of Penn State, committed to applied technology education.

He said: "I will always treasure the time spent with Chef Paul, the School of Hospitality students, our talented production team from WVIA, and, of course, our loyal viewers from throughout the country and the world. I look forward to seeing the next evolution of the 'You're the Chef' brand. The only drawback is that I may never again eat as well as I have for the past nine years!"

Since going national in 2001, "You're the Chef" has aired more than 4,300 times on more than 100 stations, covering nearly half the country and reaching approximately 50 million households. It has earned two Mid-Atlantic Emmy nominations, two Telly Awards, two Crystal Awards of Excellence and other awards for marketing and public relations.

The "You're the Chef" Web site continues to function and videotapes of past-season episodes are available from WVIA.