Past
Member Spotlight 
Educational Background-
Middle Tennessee State University- B.S. Foods and Nutrition
University of Kentucky , Lexington- Dietetic Internship
University of Kentucky , Lexington- M.S. Clinical Nutrition
I have been in the clinical dietetics practice a whopping 32 years! I always intended a career in clinical dietetics, choosing an internship with a clinical emphasis and master's degree in clinical nutrition. Of course, the best laid plans often go astray and my fist full-time job was in administration in a one-dietitian community hospital. Even though I only stayed one year (before I got that coveted clinical job in a teaching hospital), I actually enjoyed the administrative position enough to continue as a consultant for another year!
I worked as a clinical dietitian and dietary services director in Kentucky while in school pursuing my M.S degree. I directed the undergraduate program in dietetics at MTSU for 22 years before I accepted the position of department chair of the Department of Human Sciences at MTSU. I am still in close contact with the program as it is located in this department and now in the capable hands of Dr. Lisa Sheehan-Smith.
The most challenging aspect of my current job is continuing to strive to maintain the high quality of all five of our undergraduate programs and graduate program with nearly 1,200 students with limited resources. My greatest professional joy continues to be the opportunity to teach at least one Nutrition and Food Science course per semester primarily with graduate students in our NFS program. Currently we are wanting to make members aware of our graduate program. It is flexible enough to allow students to complete an NFS core with a 12 hour minor or two six-hour cognates in an area of professional interest such as exercise science, gerontology, psychology, management, chemistry or other areas of choice.
For fun, I am an avid traveler and looking forward to the time when I can again take the time to travel extensively. I am also very involved in ADA at the national level as an accreditation program reviewer and have had the opportunity to visit many programs (undergraduate, graduate and internships) nationwide from California to Vermont and even Puerto Rico . There are many opportunities for Rd's to be involved and share their expertise. Currently , the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education is seeking practitioners to serve in this role and I'd be happy to discuss this national involvement with RDs in our area who would like to tackle this challenge.
