Program Updates

With the 2007-2008 academic year drawing to a close, it is a good time to recognize the many achievements of the faculty, staff and students in the Food Science and Nutrition Program. There have been many positive developments in our program and we feel that we are at the beginning of a new era for the program.

Faculty

Dr. Ethan Bergman was elected as the Speaker-Elect of the House of Delegates of the American Dietetic Association for the 2008-2009 year and will assume the position of Speaker of the HOD the following year. The HOD is the governing body of the 68,000 members of the ADA. The Speaker of the HOD is arguably the second most important elected position in the ADA and Central Washington University is proud to have Dr. Bergman represent us in that role.

Dr. Virginia Bennett was awarded a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Food Science and Nutrition. Dr. Bennett has been a full-time non-tenure track faculty in our program for seven years. The program welcomes this significant promotion and looks forward to having Dr. Bennett in this new position.

Dr. Kelly Kerr was awarded a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Food Science and Nutrition and in Exercise Science. Dr. Kerr recently completed the requirements for her PhD in Exercise Science at the University of Alabama. Dr. Kerr is also a Registered Dietitian and has been on our staff this past year as a part-time lecturer in Food Science and Nutrition as well as in Exercise Science. Her joint appointment in Exercise Science and Nutrition is a reflection of the growing collaboration between these programs.

Dr. Susan Hawk was awarded a tenure-track position as Associate Professor of Food Science and Nutrition. Dr. Hawk has been on the faculty at Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo for the past seven years. She has her PhD from UC Davis and hopes to continue her research on nutrition and breast cancer when she arrives at CWU this summer.

Staff

Lucinda Engel was recognized as the outstanding staff member of the College of Education and Professional Studies this past year. Lucinda has been a valuable member of our team and we are sure that all of our alumni over the past years appreciate her contributions to our program.

Students

Nutrition College Bowl Team: The team from CWU won the championship in a field of eleven teams including teams from the University of California at Berkeley, California Polytechnic Institute at San Luis Obisbo, and California State University at Fresno. In a single elimination format, the team from CWU defeated teams from CSU-Los Angeles 40-30, UC-Davis 70-10, and CSU-Northridge 75-35. Having previously won the competition two years ago made CWU the first ever two-time champions of this competition. Members of this team were Bret Rust, Chelsea Murphy, Kylie Ottmer, and Michelle Walton. The team was coached by nutrition graduate student Carissa Sundsmo, who was a member of the 2006 championship team.

Science Honors Program: The SHP was established four years ago to support outstanding undergraduate students complete research projects in the natural sciences. Students in the SHP receive a summer research stipend and research funding, take courses to prepare them for conducting research and writing their senior thesis, and presenting their work at CWU's Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). This past year Food Science and Nutrition student Jessica Nye completed her study titled "Validation of a bioelectrical impedance analysis equation predicting body composition using a conductor length instead of height." Her work will be recognized in the Honors Convocation this spring. Bret Rust was selected this spring to participate in the Science Honors program and the title of his research is "Metabolic effects of catechin polyphenols and caffeine on weight loss." Both of these students are mentored by Dr. David Gee.

WSDA Board Members: The Washington State Dietetic Association annually selects one or two students to be on their executive board. This past year, CWU was honored to have two students serve on their board. Maria Aragon and Kim Warfel were recognized at the annual meeting of WSDA in Yakima this spring for their valuable contributions to the WSDA Board.

WSDA Outstanding Undergraduate Student: Each year, WSDA recognizes outstanding dietetic students and this year selected Kim Warfel as the state's outstanding undergraduate student. Kim will be completing her training towards becoming an RD by attending the dietetic internship at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. CWU is proud of all of Kim's contributions to our program and to WSDA.

Shoudy Distinguished Nutrition Scholars: Each year, undergraduate students in the Food Science and Nutrition Program are recognized for their excellent academic performance, leadership skills, and potential towards becoming an outstanding professional in the field. This year, the award (including a $1000 scholarship) was given to Shireen Dow, Megan Romo, Bret Rust, Tennyson Salopek, Krystal Sanchez, and Alison Weppler.

Undergraduate Programs

Last year, the FSN program moved across the street to be part of the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Nutrition. The move now puts us in the same department with other programs involved in health promotion. We have historically had numerous collaborations with the Exercise Science program and now we have the opportunity to work with the faculty in Health Education and Physical Education. We have been very happy with the change in scenery and look forward to more productive department collaborations.

The program continues to grow and to avoid all classes from getting too large, we have been able to add faculty that has allowed us to add additional sections. This coming year, over half of our upper division classes will be offered at least twice a year. As in the past, the largest number of students has been in the Nutrition and Dietetics specialization. Typically, 15 - 20 students a year from that program go on to enter dietetic internships all around the nation.

We continue to attract excellent students. Thanks to a generous donation, four undergraduate scholarships of $500 are awarded to outstanding students each year. In 2006, we sent a team of five students to the Nutrition College Bowl, held annually at California State University in Northridge. Our students took first place among 9 entering colleges, defeating teams from San Diego State University, UC Berkeley, and Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo.

2007 will mark the inaugural year of the Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Food Service Management. This unique program will partner with culinary arts programs offered by community colleges and provide an avenue for their students to obtain a four-year degree. The program will be housed at CWU - Lynnwood and be administered by a new tenure-track faculty member (Susan Adams). In addition to teaching classes specifically for the BAS-FSM students, Professor Adams will be using distance education technology to teach Quantity Foods Production and Food Service Systems Management to the dietetic students on the Ellensburg campus.

Graduate Program in Nutrition

Like the undergraduate program, the number of students in our graduate program has increased. We are now able to offer 4 graduate teaching assistantships and have a fifth student awarded a graduate assistantship to be the editor of a web page for Physical Education teachers. The most recent students to complete the MS degree in nutrition and the title of their theses are:

• Megan Erickson: Nutritional and Economic Impact of School Nutrition Policies on Vending Machine Purchases. (June 2007)
• Aimee Clem: Predictors of Success of a Chronic Disease Management Curriculum for Mexican Americans. (May 2007)
• Laura Wisely: A Comparative Study of Nutrient Intakes, Anthropometrics, and Blood Pressure Data in Mexican-American Women Living in Central Washington and their Counterparts Living in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. (May 2007)
• Kari Lund: Effectiveness of a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program on Mexican Americans with Diabetes. (May 2006)
• Krisma DesPortes: Impact of School Policy Changes on a La Carte purchases in Central Washington Schools. (June 2006)
• Cameron Van Tassell: Attitudes and Beliefs Towards Diabetes Goal Setting in Spanish-Speaking Mexican-Americans. (July 2005)

Dietetic Internship

CWU's Dietetic Internship continues to have eight students doing their rotations in Yakima, the Tri-Cities, Wenatchee, Ellensburg, and Seattle. The DI is now under the capable leadership of Linda Cashman. Nancy Buergel, who successfully guided our program for a number of years is now blissfully retired and living in the Bellevue area. Interns who successfully complete the first two quarters of their supervised practice are awarded a $750 Shoudy Dietetic Internship Scholarship. The program continues to be 14 months in length, with two summers of graduate level courses sandwiched around 9 months of supervised practice. When completing their summer classes, interns earn half of the credits required to complete an MS degree at CWU.

Faculty Updates

Dr. David Gee, PhD

Dr. Gee is now in his 26th year at CWU! Time flies when you are having fun and his is enjoying his job more than ever. In addition to teaching his classes, he devotes much of his time supervising graduate and undergraduate student research projects. This fall at the national ADA meeting (FNCE) in Philadelphia, he and his students will be presenting five posters including one master's thesis (Megan Erickson: "Nutritional and Economic Impact of School Nutrition Policies on Beverage Vending Machine Purchases".), and two undergraduate research projects (Liane Fernyhough: "Dietary Behaviors of Mexican Women and Second-Generation Mexican American Women". Kimberly Warfel: "Regulation of Functional Foods in Japan: Foods for Specialized Health Uses (FOSHU)".), and two experimental foods projects (Megan Erickson, Tyra Halverson, Emily Kelly: "White Whole Wheat Flour May Be An Acceptable Substitute for All-Purpose Flour". Last spring, a study on the effects of creative supplementation on jumping performance in female college athletes conducted by an exercise science graduate student (Neal Melvin) and a nutrition graduate student (Aimee Clem) was presented at the Northwest Section meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Ethan Bergman, PhD, RD, CD, FADA

I'm still alive with pulse and respiration! I just finished my 21st year at CWU. Many of you who have heard stories about my kids or used them for subjects in Developmental Nutrition may be surprised to realize that they are no longer little kids. Sara graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma in 2005. She was in Trinidad and Tobago in 2005-2006 on a Fulbright Scholarship doing research in cultural anthropology. Of course I'm a proud father! Luke is a  senior in music at University of Washington. He plays the double bass and plays in quite a few groups around Seattle. Isak is an 18 year old graduate of Ellensburg High School who enjoys running. He was the state 800 meter champion, setting a state meet record and was named to two All-American track teams after last season. They are all great kids due entirely to great nutrition!

In the realm of research, we have been doing some school lunch research lately analyzing the time students take to eat lunch. We are also interested in factors such as recess that tend to influence eating rate and potentially nutrient intake.

I am the Faculty Athletic Representative at CWU for the last 8 years. As FAR, I am the conduit between the athletics program and the faculty. It has been a nice addition.

I have also been Associate Dean in the College of Education and Professional Studies for the last 6 years. I'll devote about half time to this responsibility as well.

If any of you are in the area, please drop by or write us an email. We'd love to hear from you!

Linda Cashman, MS, RD

Virginia Bennett, PhD, RD, CD

I am starting my 7th year at CWU as faculty. That isn't counting the 6 years it took me to get my bachelor's and master's degrees here. You can tell I really love this place! I continue to teach the lower division courses as well as several upper division classes. Teaching to both majors and non-majors keeps me on my toes.

Ethan recently handed the reins over to me as director of the didactic program in dietetics. Thanks to his help I am getting the hang of the new responsibilities this entails. It has been fun looking through old class records and remembering the students they represent.

On a personal level, I continue to spend most of my spare time working on my house and yard. I am going for the controlled wilderness look. The wilderness part came with my property; the controlled part has been a challenge. Little by little it is taking shape. Since we have not offered the Nutrition in Mexico class recently, I am getting anxious to return to Mexico and will try to plan some vacation time there. As much as I enjoyed teaching in Mexico, I can see the benefit to going strictly for pleasure.