In the cafeteria of Lipscomb University, usually around lunch or dinner, you can find Sheila Hood cleaning tables, straightening chairs, scolding some messy boy or greeting a student at the door with a warm hug. To those around her, Hood goes by Mama Sheila, and all 4,000 students at Lipscomb University are her kids.
“I’ve been in food service all my life,” says Mama Sheila, “Ever since I was 14.”
Mama Sheila started out working for both Vanderbilt and Baptist Hospitals, where she was employed for many years. Eventually, Hood decided she wanted weekends off, so she came to Lipscomb after seeing an ad in the paper about the new position.
Mama Sheila found herself at Lipscomb in 2002. She also had a son who worked on campus, which made the job hunt easier.
Mama Sheila remembers all the places on Lipscomb’s campus where she’d ever worked in order. She used to work at the now-closed Pizza Hut in the food court, Smoothie King , the Grill and Sub Connection, as well as the currently in business Starbucks and Chick-fil-a.
Of course, after all these places had come and gone, Mama Sheila eventually found herself in the cafeteria.
“She always makes my day,” says Courtney Rider, a sophomore nursing major from Greenbrier, Tenn., “After the first day I met her, she already knew my face.”
The students of Lipscomb University are almost as attached to Mama Sheila as she is to them. Meal times would be a different experience without a “Hey, baby” or a “Be sure you put those chairs back where you found them” from the campus Mama.
“Having Mama Sheila in the cafeteria means you always get a warm smile,” says Lindsay Harshbarger, a freshman graphic design major at Lipscomb, “You know she’ll try to brighten your day.”