You may have seen her smiling face in the cafeteria at lunchtime, or have been attracted to the wonderful smells from the stir-fry table permeating the air. The woman behind the culinary magic is Fatima Dogan, a five-year veteran of the college’s dining services. Dogan was born and raised in Sansun, Turkey, and graduated from Ev Ekonomia in 1974 with a degree in home economics. She and her husband moved to the United States 27 years ago and settled in the Bronx. After living for a year and a half in New York, she moved to Michigan, where she stayed for seven years. Next, she found herself in Washington for nine years, and then worked in the cafeteria at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala., for four years while her husband was a professor there. Students have Dogan to thank for dishes like eggplant salad and baklava, which Dogan has added to the menu to give it a Turkish element. “After living in the United States for a while, I got used to this country, so I am now between both cultures … if students want it, I am always willing to make Turkish food,” she said. Above all, Dogan feels that the reason she came to work here was to provide services to customers, and that it is always her pleasure to help students. “I am so happy I found Guilford College,” she said. “It is a wonderful place to work most of the time. You feel like you are part of a family.” She also emphasized the importance of student feedback in the cafeteria. “Even those little comment cards make us cheer.” Although she enjoys working with most of her co-workers, as well as seeing the students on a daily basis, she admits that the cafeteria has not always been an easy place to work. “It is not easy to make money here,” she said. Money is only part of the problem, however. Dogan also feels that there are more complex issues involved in the working environment of the cafeteria. “So many times, I wanted to leave,” Dogan said. “Some of my co-workers who left discriminated against other cafeteria workers, and there are some here who still do. There are a lot of politics around.” These problems have hardly been the first upsetting events in her life – Dogan, a mother of six, lost one of her children in 1986. Despite these setbacks, Dogan maintains her strength of character and a positive attitude. “Even though I have bad experiences here sometimes, it is still a wonderful place to work,” she said. “It’s like a community. I love the Quaker mentality.