Because real-world problems often require teams to find solutions, Stefanou and others developed an evaluation system designed to help students learn to work in teams effectively.

Charles Duncan (right), vice president of research and development at Hershey Foods, chats with agricultural economist Spiro Stefanou before addressing Food Science 497A students from Penn State and St. Joseph’s University at the Hershey Technology Center.

“Team contribution is 20 percent of their grade, so we want students to work in teams and then value the work,” he says. “We ask students to assess teammates not on how they did the work, but as team members. We ask if their teammates are willing to collaborate and help others. Does she offer constructive suggestions or is she mean and cynical? Does he present reports on time and attend meetings?

“We use all the different aspects of being a productive team member to create a peer collaboration score,” Stefanou says. “We do it in October, again in mid-November, then during the last week of class, so there’s a graduated weight. If you’re not doing very well as a team member, you can get the feedback and correct your course.”

The course also incorporates decision case studies, which are assembled with the assistance of graduate students Julian Hernandez and Ellen Taricani and former students in the course. These case studies organize the experiences and insights of product developers into “decision points” in the development processes of specific products. This format enables students to “ask” the experts what they did when faced with problems similar to their own. “Today we have five cases and 150 stories from various industry people on product development experiences, including the development of Hershey’s Symphony candy bar,” Hood says.

Angela, the unflappable leader of the “Smack Attack” presentation team in the final exam, took the course because she wanted professional experiences to discuss on job interviews. While she picked up the right jargon, she says, she also got a lot more.

“The course was a good way for me to get insight into the product development process and life cycle. I learned how industry works and what different companies are doing. There were a lot of challenges, but I was surprised by how proficient our team became during the semester. It was a lot more work than I ever imagined coming in, but I gained a lot of valuable skills.”

Anne Panko, who earned her bachelor’s degree in food science in 2001, came to the course with a strong background in engineering, chemistry, and microbiology; she was looking for more business acumen. She says she also learned more about herself.

“I learned more than facts and details,” she says. “I learned things that a manager would use. I’ve learned that laying things out thoroughly and specifically really helps with team management and task development. I should have outlined more tasks, putting names next to tasks to get things accomplished. If I have to be a team leader and boss people around, I’m going to do it so things will get done on time and efficiently. I’m more willing to take charge.”

John Lord and instructional designer Ellen Taricani discuss ideas with a team of students.

Nicole Grande offers similar insights, but from a slightly different perspective. A 1999 Penn State graduate, she took the course during its inaugural semester. Today, as a product developer for Heinz, she affirms that the course gives students a glimpse of the demands of the real world.

“I loved the class,” Grande says. “The industry contacts that came in to the classroom offered hands-on knowledge, and taking part in the actual development of a product opened my eyes to the many different issues that occur in industry and exposed me to the business side of the product development process.

“As a product developer, business knowledge is almost as important as the scientific knowledge. This class does a great job of combining aspects of business and science to give a better understanding of how things really work in the food industry. I think it is an even better course now, because they have other schools participating in the learning process. This exposes you to even more information and additional contacts within the industry.”

Now that the course is established, Hood’s goal is to make a good course even better, and see if other departments and colleges want to copy its success.

“Our approach isn’t unique,” he says. “They do similar things in turfgrass science and animal science, but food product development lends itself well to this approach. It could very easily be offered in a business school. This, clearly, is the way educational systems are heading, and I believe others will be doing the same thing.

“I think of this course as a capstone learning experience, where you build a foundation in several disciplines—like chemistry, microbiology, business, marketing—then weave it all together in a problem-solving mode. It’s a hands-on course where we get involved with the students, and it takes a lot of intensity. It’s also a high-risk course, and not inexpensive on a per-student basis, but it’s definitely the way to do capstone courses. Every curriculum needs to have a couple of these.”