The mission of the Department of Human Nutrition is to discover, disseminate, and apply knowledge to promote improved food choices, nutritional status, and well-being of people. Academic programs provide information for dietary guidance and range from molecular level studies of nutrient metabolism to studies of interrelationships of exercise and nutrient intake and behavioral research on factors related to food selection and maintenance of health. The only unit of its kind in Kansas, it offers B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. programs in nutrition; its Ph.D. program is the only one in the state.
The department’s greatest strength is that it represents the full spectrum of human nutrition: the molecular and gene level, human metabolism and performance, nutrition education, consumer behavior, sensory analysis, public health nutrition, and clinical nutrition. The Department participates in interdisciplinary programs such as the graduate program in food science, the undergraduate program in nutrition and exercise with kinesiology, and the new interdepartmental Master’s of Public Health.
The Department has 16 resident faculty: 4 professors, 3 associate professors, 5 assistant professors, and 4 instructors. All faculty at the assistant professor level or above are graduate faculty. Between 1998-2002, faculty authored or co-authored 90 peer refereed articles and 8 book chapters. Eighty percent of the faculty have extramural support and the department averages about $2 million/year in extramural awards to faculty. The sensory analysis center is world-renowned.
The undergraduate program enrolls 185 students and is expected to grow with the incorporation of a B.S. program in Athletic Training. Average ACT scores for students in the department vary somewhat by area of emphasis—nutritional sciences is 26.0, public health nutrition is 23.1, and nutrition and exercise sciences is 23.7. Of graduates from the nutritional sciences option who apply to medical school, 76% are admitted. From 1998-2002, students had over a 90% pass rate on the “first time” taking the national exam given by the American Dietetic Association. The mean GRE score over the past five years for graduate students has been 1100. Over the past 5 years, human nutrition graduate students have authored or co-authored 66 peer refereed publications and have delivered 80 presentations at national meetings. Students have won national awards for their research: 4 times in the last 5 years a Ph.D. student in the department has won the Institute of Food Technologists’ Sensory Evaluation Division Research Competition; one won 1 st prize at the National Cherry Marketing Board product development competition; one Ph.D. student won the Society for Nutrition Education Research Award; and another won the AARP Andrus Foundation Fellowship in Gerontology.
Baccalaureate graduates enter positions in clinical nutrition, wellness and fitness centers, major athletic teams, public health departments and Cooperative Extension. A good portion of students go onto medical school, dental school or optometry school. Graduate school entry is increasing among baccalaureate graduates. Graduates with M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are employed in higher education, Ross Laboratories, General Mills, Kellogg, Con Agra, the Food and Drug Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, The National Institutes of Health, United States Army, and United States Air Force.
The department offers two UGE classes, has developed Basic Nutrition for CD-ROM and Internet delivery. The department offers courses required for non-departmental students in dietetics and gerontology. The departmental engagement in Cooperative Extension work includes the family nutrition program that serves more than 70 Kansas counties. The Department is a major player in the Food Science Institute and the Community Health Institute.
The Department’s top priority is to increase the number and quality of graduate students in its program. The number of students admitted to graduate study has increased for two consecutive years. New faculty hired have the research credentials and the capability to mentor graduate student research. In addition to supporting the human nutrition masters and doctoral programs human nutrition graduate faculty participate in the newly approved Masters in Public Health program—an interdisciplinary program that draws on the expertise of Human Nutrition faculty and the interdisciplinary food science program. The department admits students to graduate study only when assistantships are available to support their work—recent expansion of extramural funding will allow the department to increase the number of students admitted to masters and doctoral study. There are a number of PhD students in the Department who are part of the Food Science Interdisciplinary doctoral program in addition to students in the PhD program in Human Nutrition.
As of Autumn 2003, we have 249 total students, 35 graduate students from the MPH, MS and PhD in Human Nutrition and the interdisciplinary program in Food Science. We had the largest increase in undergraduate enrollment in the department’s history and received over $1.4 million in research funding, excluding the $2.4 million program in the Food and Nutrition Program.