Food Network TV star and author Ree Drummond is preparing a meal just for U of A's hospitality management program.

Drummond, a blogger and cookbook author, is host of the popular cooking show The Pioneer Woman. She's the guest for hospitality management's A Night in the Kitchen, a virtual multi-course cooking demonstration, which will happen at 6 p.m. Friday, March 12, via Zoom.

Hospitality management students and alumni, as well as faculty and staff in the School of Human Environmental Sciences, are encouraged to attend. This free event is open to anyone across campus. Registration is required.

The event is part of instructor Dede Hamm's Special Events class.

"This is for a class project to show us how to make special events safe under COVID-19 guidelines," said Ramie Rice, hospitality management major. "Since we all love cooking, we thought it would be fun to let people enjoy that with us virtually. Some of our parents are fans of The Pioneer Woman, so we are excited to have her do this for us."

"We are so excited to have industry support our students, especially when it is someone as enthusiastic as Ree Drummond," said Kelly Way, assistant director of School of Human Environmental Sciences, which is in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. "Ree understands the importance of food, family and the servant's heart we possess in the world of hospitality. To have her do this as a mother-daughter virtual event for our program is over the top and makes me so proud."

Drummond lives on a ranch with her family in Oklahoma. ThePioneerWoman.com draws more than 20 million page views per month, and her blog was named Weblog of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011 at the Bloggie Awards. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl was a No. 1 best-selling cookbook and her memoir, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels – A Love Story, debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times Best Sellers List for nonfiction hardcover in 2011.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among fewer than 3% of colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.