HHPN : Dr. Virginia Bennett

Dr. Virginia Bennett is the Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) and an Assistant Professor in Nutrition and Food Science at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. She has taught at Central Washington since 2000. Dr. Bennett received both her BS and MS in Nutrition at Central Washington University. She did a supervised practice at the same time she was finishing her graduate work which allowed her to take the Registration Exam for dietitians following graduation.

Dr. Bennett worked as a registered dietitian first in a hospital setting and then in an outpatient service that she co-owned with two other health professionals. She worked closely with the medically obese patient in the outpatient setting. After nine years she decided it was time to combine her love of culture with nutrition and returned to school for a Ph.D. The degree she earned at the University California Davis was in Nutrition with an emphasis in International Nutrition. Her research interest, Child Feeding Issues in Developing Countries, allowed her to live and work in Peru and Guatemala. She spent 8 months in Lima, Peru in the Children’s Hospital where she manipulated the viscosity of the cereal fed to children 8-18 months of age and measured caloric intake. This was followed by 11 months in Guatemala where she worked in the slum areas gathering dietary intake records from children under the age of two. Following graduation she returned to Central Washington University to pursue a career in teaching.

While teaching has become her passion, she has kept the connection with culture alive in all of the classes that she currently teaches. In addition, she co-developed a Study Abroad Program in Mexico for nutrition students. From 2002-2006 she took students for a quarter to study and work in the city of Morelia, located in Michoacan, Mexico. It is hoped that this program will be offered again soon.