10/02/2026
Celebrating our Chefs all month long! Meet Jorge Santiago, Morsani Executive Chef. His love for cooking started as a child, watching his grandma and uncles in the kitchen at home, where you would have found him constantly asking questions, tasting every dish, and eager to learn what made the food so special. That passion led to his first kitchen job in high school 28 years ago, and he hasn’t left the kitchen since.
What drives Chef Jorge every day is the ability to bring joy to you all through food. He loves the incredible diversity of UTampa’s campus, cooking for students from all over the world, and having the creative freedom to experiment with new flavors. Putting a smile on students’ faces through a shared love of great food is what makes his work so rewarding.