Hall of Fame, 2005 Inductees
Diane Feikert Birt
Diane Birt was named Distinguished Professor at Iowa State University in 2004. She was appointed Chairman of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Director of the Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition, Iowa State University, 1997. She served as Center Director until 2002 and as department chair until 2004. In 2002 Dr. Birt led the effort to establish the Iowa Center for Research on Dietary Botanical Supplements at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa with funds from the Office of Dietary Supplements (NIH).
She has conducted research into mechanisms whereby dietary factors modulate carcinogenesis for almost 30 years. Her research emphasizes identifying and studying mechanisms for cancer prevention by novel dietary constituents and studying mechanisms for cancer enhancement by overeating and obesity. She has over 100 publications.
She received a Bachelors degree from Whittier College in 1971 and a Ph.D. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, in 1975. She moved from Assistant Professor at Iowa State University from 1975-1976 to Assistant Professor at the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE in 1976, where she was promoted to Full Professor in the Eppley Institute and in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1988. She was interim Chairman of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center from 1991-1994.
She has been very active with professional societies, American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Nutrition and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention; and she is presently an Associate Editor for Cancer Research. She has served on National Academy of Science and Institute of Medicine committees and she was a scientific advisor for the ILSI N.A. Food, Nutrition and Safety Committee. She is presently a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Toxicology Program (US Department of Health).
The American Association for Cancer Research named Diane Birt the winner of the 2001 DeWitt Goodman Memorial Lectureship.
Mary E. Fuqua
Mary Fuqua, professor emeritus of the Department of Nutrition Science and associate dean emeritus of the College of Consumer and Family Sciences, was an outstanding teacher and administrator at Purdue who has also had a powerful impact on the community in her retirement.
Dr. Fuqua received her B.S. in Dietetics from the University of Tennessee and her Masters and Ph.D. from Ohio State. She came to Purdue in 1963 as Department Head of Nutrition Science, but chose to devote her time to the classroom in 1966. In 1973 she became Associate Dean of Home Economics Extension, moving to Associate Dean of Consumer and Family Sciences until her retirement in December 1987. An Extension Educator commented on her tenure as Associate Dean of Extension, “Under your leadership, dedication and expertise, the overall Home Economics Extension Program in Indiana has reached new heights in its effectiveness.”
During her tenure at Purdue Dr. Fuqua established a reputation as an unusually fine teacher, winning many teaching awards, including the AMOCO Undergraduate Teaching Award, Outstanding Teacher in the School of Home Economics (4 years), and Outstanding Lecturer on the Purdue Campus (1 of 12 chosen in a campus-wide vote by undergraduate students and given by the University Student Council). She co-authored a textbook, Principles of Nutrition, which was extensively used for college nutrition classes.
Retirement was another word for a new career! She has served on the boards of Area IV Agency on Aging and Community Services, Lafayette YWCA, Lafayette YWCA Foundation, Lafayette Leadership and the Lafayette Adult Resources Academy Advisory. She co-founded the successful Wabash Area Lifetime Learning Association, served on the Purdue President’s Advisory Council on Retirement and Greater Lafayette Salute to Women Committee. Her efforts have been recognized with 10 community awards, including Sagamore of the Wabash, Journal and Courier George Award, Greater Lafayette Volunteer Bureau Marcile Eddy Award, and Area IV Agency on Aging Felise Bray Leadership Award. A community leader describes her, “A visionary leader, Mary surrounds herself with outstanding volunteers. Her leadership becomes their driving force; her initiate: their impetus; her dedication and tenacity: their inspiration.”
In 2004, the Graduate Scholarship in Nutrition was endowed by an anonymous donor in honor of Mary Fuqua. It celebrates her outstanding career and her amazing legacy of volunteer leadership in retirement.
Sarah Johnson
Sarah Johnson is Director of Dining Services for Purdue University Residences. She has spent her entire career at Purdue quickly moving from Food Supervisor to Food Manager in 1973 to Director of Dining Services in 1987. As Director, she has moved Purdue Residences to a new era of dining services by the innovation and development of a food court system to promote efficiency and meet the changing food preferences of this generation of college students.
After receiving her B.S. in dietetics at Purdue, she did a dietetic internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She stayed to complete a Masters in nutrition with an emphasis on administrative dietetics, finishing a semester after she began her first position at Purdue.
Her excellence has been recognized by professional organizations, her colleagues and the students she serves. Beginning early, she was chosen Young Dietitian of Indiana in 1975. The National Association of College and University Food Services awarded her the NACUFS Citation for Meritorious Service and the Region IV President’s Award two times. She was chosen for the Special Boilermaker Award presented by Purdue Alumni Association in 2000 and the Amelia Earhart Hall of Fame Award in 1994. Other honors she has been given: Honorary Membership in Tau Beta Sigma Band Sorority, Honorary Member of Tomahawk, Wava Banes Turner Award (service to Tau Beta Sigma, presented at National Convention), Purdue Student Government Citation of Advisor Excellence and she was a Hidden Diamond for the Consumer and Family Science 75th Anniversary.
She has been active in professional organizations, holding offices and serving on committees. She was chair of the Food Service Management Internship Committee of the Association of College and University Housing Officers and the National Association of College and University Food Services from 1997-2001, as well as NACUFS Liaison for ACUHO-1 for the same period. She has been active in the American Dietetic Association, as well as the Indiana Dietetic Association and the Western Indiana Dietetic Association. She has been president twice of the Kappa Omicron Nu Alumni Chapter of North Central Indiana and has served as treasurer for this organization since 1995.
Her community activities have been focused on Altrusa International of Lafayette and Central Presbyterian Church of Lafayette. She has been president of Altrusa twice and the board of directors twice and she has served on her church Board of Deacons and the Board of Trustees. Because of her commitment, she has held many positions of leadership and service in both groups.
Sue Palmore
Sue Palmore is owner and CEO of I Two, a boutique translation agency in Woodstock, IL, handling projects for print, video and audio-recording with the option to hire simultaneous meeting interpreters. Their linguistic capability includes more that 20 languages and subject matter qualified translators. Apparently far removed from her B.S. in Nutrition Science, she is a perfect example of the unpredictable careers our graduates can have when their gifts and ambition match opportunity.
Her early career was with the Dairy Council of Michigan (Program Coordinator) and the Dairy Council of Iowa (Executive Director). She next moved to Director of Consumer Affairs with the American Farm Bureau in Park Ridge, IL. She was already winning awards for multi-media projects when she moved to Director of Communications with National Housewares Manufacturers. This position included responsibilities with the massive International Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago. Before launching her own business in 1990, she took a position as a video producer for Jack Lieb Productions, where she marketed video projects, worked with editors, translators and dubbing of non-English language video versions.
Her productions have won awards since her employment with the American Farm Bureau. In 1983, she won a bronze medal for a television documentary on animal rights at the International Film and Television Festival in New York. She has won three CINE Gold Eagles, one in 1988 and two in 1989. Additionally, she won the Silver Screen Award in 1988.
She has given back to her community and her alma mater as she has moved forward in the world of business. Currently a school board member of the Woodstock Community Unit School District 200, she served as secretary and spokesman for a local political action committee, People for Woodstock PAC, as well as held leadership in the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She was trustee of the D200 Education Foundation and is active in her neighborhood associations. She has served on various boards over the years, Better Existence with HIV, the Iron Horse Campaign and the Valley Junction Rehabilitation Project. At Purdue she was president of the CFS Alumni Association in 2001 and 2002.
Her alma mater chose her as a Purdue Old Master in 1984. In 1994, she was honored as a Distinguished Alumni of Consumer and Family Sciences.
Karyl A. Rickard
Karyl Rickard is professor of nutrition and dietetics at Indiana UniversitySchools of Health and Rehabilitative Services and Medicine (Indianapolis) and a full member of the Indiana University Graduate School (Bloomington). She was an expert panel member for the Start Healthy National Infant and Toddler Feeding Guidelines published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in March 2004.
Dr. Rickard received her B.S. in dietetics from the University of Wyoming and her Masters in Nutrition Science at University of Wisconsin, followed by a Pediatric Nutrition Fellowship at University of Washington Child Development Center. Her PhD was from Purdue.
She held joint academic and administrative appointments at the Indiana University School of Medicine and James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children from 1972-present, until she finally left her appointment at Riley as Director of Pediatric Nutrition Research, Program and Staff Development in 1995 for her current position in the Graduate School at Bloomington. She has been active in professional associations, such as the American Dietetic Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, Pediatric Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. She has been a consultant with Federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Public Health Services, US Department of Health and Human Services; Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council; US Department of Agriculture – Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program, Washington DC; and the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute Grant Review Committees and Site Visits. She is currently part of the board developing a nutrition strategic plan and blueprint to meet future nutrition and health care needs as well as recommendations for national funding priorities to develop pediatric nutrition and MCH leaders.
Dr. Rickard has been the recipient of many awards and honors recognizing her achievements. In 2004 alone, she received the Outstanding Dietetic Educator’s Award for Dietetic Internship Programs in Region 5 States from the American Dietetic Association, the Outstanding Dietetic Educator’s Award for Dietetic Internships, from the Indiana Dietetic Association and the Excellence in Service Award from her college. She has many publications, book chapter and articles to her credit and is in demand as a reviewer and presenter.
Her alma mater chose her as a Purdue Old Master in 1984. In 1994, she was honored as a Distinguished Alumni of Consumer and Family Sciences.
Linda Verner Van Horn
Linda Van Horn is a professor at Northwestern University Medical School Department of Preventative Medicine. Since 2003 she has been editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
She received her B.S. in dietetics at Purdue, doing her dietetic internship at the Indiana University Medical School. Her Masters degree was completed at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Health Sciences Center, Graduate School of Public Health.
Dr. Van Horn has been the principle investigator or co-investigator on many major research grants, including multi-site clinical trials. Two of these are the INTERMAP Study underway in four countries, China, Japan, UK and the USA, with over 5000 participants and a diet and hormone study funded by the National Cancer Institute. In 2000 she was a co-investigator of the Women’s Health Initiative, funded by NIH.
She is active in the American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Association, Illinois Public Health Association, Governor’s Council on Health and Fitness and dietetic practice groups relevant to her areas of research. She has many referred publications, book chapters and abstracts of presentations and has served on numerous advisory boards and councils, including the Panel to review national guidelines on Detection and Treatment of Elevated Blood Lipids in Adults (ATP III) and an Advisory Council for the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute.
Awards have followed her since early in her career, including the Recognized Young Dietitian Award of the Year by the American Dietetic Association in 1979. She has received three Outstanding Service Awards from ADA, 1989, 1994 & 1999. Her teaching was honored by the Dean’s Award for Clinical Teaching Excellence in 1999 and she received the Dannon Institute Award for Excellence in Medical/Dental Nutrition in 2004. Among other awards she has received are some “different” ones, Today’s Chicago Woman: Top 100 and the appointed Speaker to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales regarding Diet and Cancer at the Lurie Cancer Center Symposium in 1996.
Return to top