News Release

Contest at UM SPH results in popular name for new "Crossroads Café."

March 22, 2004 press release from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The contest is over, and there's a new name for the new café recently opened on the first floor of the SPH II building at the UM School of Public Health. It's the "Crossroads Café."

The winning entry was submitted by six different members of the SPH community--making it the most popular nomination among contest entrants, as well as among judges. Each of the six winning entrants will receive a free lunch at the Crossroads Café, courtesy of Len Lynam, District Manager for AVI FoodSystems, which runs the facility for the school. The UM SPH Office of Communications coordinated the contest, and Facilities Manager Jim Kennedy was instrumental in arranging for the café to open at the school.

The Crossroads Café serves coffee, bagels and muffins, juice, fruit, sandwiches and salads from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every weekday. It's across from the elevators, in the northwest corner of the first floor of SPH II, on Washington Heights near the intersection of Observatory.

More than 138 entries were submitted to the contest, and they reflect a lively range of approaches--both to the naming of the school's café and to the field of public health itself. Included among the names receiving votes from the judges were The Caffeine Vaccine Café, Mocha Loca, The Healthy Habitat, On-The-Way Café, Café O'Health, Café Salud del Mundo, PHood Stand, The Hot SPHot Café, Bob's Place (honoring former Associate Dean Bob Gray's contribution to the new building), The Broad Street Pump Cafe" (after the famous story from public health history of John Snow and the pump--see http://www.sph.umich.edu/epid/GSS/pub.html). Entries that amused the judges (but received no votes) include Perks, Feast or Famine Café, SPHOC's, Caf'teria Diptheria, and CDC: Center for Delicious Coffee.

AVI FoodSystem's Len Lynam, far right, presents free lunch certificates to winners in the UM SPH Crossroads Café naming contest. Front row from left: SPH staffers Lorraine Wiley, Heonia Hillock, Bev Slane, and Jo Callender. Back row: student James Moore. Not pictured: student Kelly White.

Contact: Mary Beth Lewis
Phone: (734) 615-2279
E-mail: lewismb@umich.edu