Hall of Fame, 2015 Inductees
Zoe Coulson, BS
Zoe Coulson received her BS from Purdue Home Economics in 1954, with extra food and nutrition coursework. She grew up on a farm in Sullivan County, IN, and was a 10 year 4-H member and a State Fair winner in many projects. She worked 4 years on the Purdue Exponent, becoming a senior editor. The college class she says helped her most was food chemistry. These experiences prepared her well for a career which centered on communication: from public relations to advertising to editorial responsibilities to corporate marketing. She gives her Purdue academic and journalistic experiences credit for her career.
She is an alumna who has blazed a trail. As the first woman officer at Campbell Soup Company and the first woman member of the board of directors of Rubbermaid, she was on the cover of Business Month (April, 1989) for their feature story, “Managers: 100 Women to Watch in Corporate America.”
Her first job upon graduation from Purdue was with the American Meat Institute in Chicago. From there she went to two advertising firms, J. Walter Thompson in 1957 and Leo Burnett in 1960, moving to publishing in 1964 with Donnelley-Dun & Bradstreet, New York, where she edited, wrote articles, created and sold advertising. In 1968 she moved to Hearst Publishing, also in New York, as food editor for Good Housekeeping. The food pages, largest monthly section of the magazine, were her responsibility and that section’s popularity assisted the company to reach their 50% newsstand sales goal. She edited and helped market the 1972 Good Housekeeping Cookbook with 5 million copies sold.
In 1975 she became director of the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she was senior editor for seven departments (80 employees) and responsible for two-thirds of the magazine’s editorial content, as well as evaluation of all advertising (the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval). During this period she represented the magazine as speaker before industry and government groups world-wide, sparking international collaborations. She planned and edited the 1981 edition of the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, which was published in 5 languages. She moved to Campbell Soup Company in 1981 to 1990, as a corporate officer, Vice President of Consumer Affairs. While there she established and integrated consumer concerns impacting sales, advertising, product development, packaging and labeling, quality assurance and nutrition. She created five new departments and initiatives, including the “Campbell’s in the Kitchen” market research program to obtain quantifiable consumer information to create new products.
She has had many honors and has been a friend of Purdue. She came back to Purdue as an Old Master, was borrowed by the Purdue Agriculture for an Alumni Meritorious Service Award and was named Outstanding Hoosier in 1974 by Gov. Otis Bowen. She was the president and chief developer of the Greater Philadelphia Purdue Alumni Club and its sponsorship of the Purdue Crew. With Dr. Jim BeMiller, she co-chaired the successful Class of 1954 Scholarship Fund Drive in 2003. In each city she worked, she took time to mentor young Purdue graduates and she is a scholarship donor to our College. She served for two years in Gorky, Russia as an Executive on Loan teaching them marketing of their product and time-motion planning in their plants. She also enlisted other Purdue retirees to join this program. Her energy and initiative are hallmarks of her life, career and retirement. She says, “My community projects are quite fulfilling since I believe in helping others.”
Esther Glover Fahm, PhD, RD, CFCS
Esther Fahm, received both her MS and PhD from this department, after receiving her BS in institutional dietetics from University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff. She has additional training in academic leadership, counseling, gerontology, and minority development in higher education. She is professor emeritus (retired 2013) from the Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Wisconsin-Stout (UW-Stout), where she was also dean of the School of Home Economics/College of Human Environmental Sciences, and associate vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs. She works with Consultant Evaluators’ Corp, serving as team chair and peer reviewer for institutional accreditation of colleges/universities by the Higher Learning Commission, and is Vice President for Professional Development of the Wisconsin Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. She is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at both national and state levels, the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, and Philanthropic Educational Organization.
Upon completion of her PhD at Purdue, she became an assistant professor at Prairie View A&M in Texas. She rose to associate professor at University of Alabama Pine Bluff, where she was also research coordinator and dietetics program coordinator. She became a full professor and department chair in the Department of Food and Nutrition at Alcorn State University, and was an active PI for many research projects, as well serving as dietetics program coordinator. She has had a focus on collaborative leadership projects and some noted research projects are: Factors Affecting the Intakes of Food and Nutrients by the Aged Poor in Three Arkansas Counties; Multicultural Scholars Program in Food, Dietetics and Packaging; Nutritional Health of Adolescent Females; Quality of Well-Being of Rural Southern Elderly-Food, Clothing and Shelter; and Quality, Palatability and Consumer Acceptance of Domestic Rabbit Meat.
Dr. Fahm has served in many leadership positions in professional organizations and has received numerous awards, including Purdue Distinguished Alumni of Consumer and Family Sciences and a Kellogg Fellow with the Academic Leadership Academy of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. She has taken advantage of opportunities to pursue academic opportunities in Africa. She was a Fulbright-Hayes Fellow with a group study abroad seminar in Cameroon, Senegal and Liberia and took a sabbatical leave for participation and observation of community food and nutrition programs in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She is married to Dr. Tunde Fahm and has a step-son, daughter-in-law and one grandchild (just 6-weeks old). Born in Dermott, Arkansas to the late Silas and Lucinda Glover, she has two brothers and four sisters. She volunteers in her community and is active in her church with the bell choir and on the parish staff committee.
Tamara Hannon, MD
Tamara Hannon, MD, received her BS in Nutrition Science from Purdue in 1992 and her MD from the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM). She did her pediatric residency at IUSM followed by a pediatric endocrinology fellowship. She did further education, completing in 2006, an MS in Clinical Research in the IUSM Clinical Investigator & Translational Education (CITE) Program. Upon completion of medical school in 2002, she served as a clinical assistant professor at IUSM before moving to the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh for six years. She returned to IUSM in 2010.
Her love for research started early. While at Purdue, she did an honors research project and she was voted by the faculty to be the Outstanding Senior in her class. She is currently a physician scientist (associate professor of pediatrics at IUSM) with clinical and research expertise in childhood obesity and the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes in youth. Her overall research program involves the study of the pathophysiology and prevention of type 2 diabetes, and the development of interventions to improve the health and health care of children and adolescents with obesity and/or diabetes. She has been funded to perform clinical research in this population since finishing her fellowship in pediatric endocrinology in 2002. She directs the Center for Pediatric Obesity and Diabetes Prevention Research, one of IUPUI’s Signature Centers for Excellence, which focuses on research of obesity and diabetes prevention in children and families, with an emphasis on disadvantaged and minority populations who experience a disproportionate burden of diabetes. She is an adjunct faculty member of the IUSM Diabetes Clinical and Translational Research Center and currently either a Co-PI or a Co-I on three projects to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.
She is medical staff at Riley Hospital for children, where she is director of their Clinical Diabetes Program and the IU Health Riley Youth Diabetes Prevention Clinic. She is also medical staff for IU Health North in Carmel and Deaconess Health System, Inc. in Evansville. While attending on inpatient service, she is engaged in teaching medical students during their Riley pediatric rotation. She also teaches pediatric residents and endocrinology fellows. She spends 3-4 hours per day teaching medical students and pediatric residents.
She has won numerous awards and has at least 43 peer-reviewed publications. She is actively involved in relevant professional organizations, where she has also presented her research. She is called upon for numerous presentations and media interviews, for venues that range from local to international.
Dr. Hannon is very involved in professional service. Her service ranges from being an expert panel member for media events to serving on an NIH Study Section for grant reviews to serving as symposium chair for a national meeting to the very light-hearted. In 2012 she was the “Kiss a Pig” candidate to raise awareness and funds for the Indiana Chapter of the American Diabetes Association!
Maureen Harrington, PhD
Maureen Harrington, PhD, following in her father’s footsteps, attended Purdue University and received her BS from this department in 1978. Though intending to become a Registered Dietitian, her senior coursework piqued an interest in research. In 1980, she received an MS in Population Studies from the University of Texas School Of Public Health, working with Dr. Carl Hacker on pesticide resistance in mosquitos. In 1985 she received her PhD in Pharmacology from The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for work performed with Dr. Jack Pledger on the control mammalian cell growth and division. From 1985 through 1987, she was a post-doctoral fellow in the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Southern California where she worked with Dr. Peter Jones, beginning her long-standing interest in signal specific control of gene expression. Following a brief post-doctoral fellowship in molecular hematopoiesis in Dr. Hal Broxmeyer’s laboratory, Dr. Harrington joined the faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1988. She has continued her studies on the transcriptional control of gene expression while moving through the ranks from Assistant Professor to Full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. As a faculty member at IU, she has published over 45 peer reviewed articles, trained 8 graduate students and numerous post-doctoral fellows. Her research laboratory has been supported through research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She has served in a variety of leadership roles at IU including President of the scientific honorary Sigma Xi and President of the School of Medicine Faculty. Currently she serves as the Chair of the Basic Science Component of the Medical School Curriculum and as the Co-Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program. Again following in the footsteps of her father, who grew up in New Mexico with the Unser family, Dr. Harrington enjoys going to the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 with her dad whenever possible.
Scott Skinner, BS, RD
Scott Skinner, born and raised in the local area, graduated with a BS from this department in 2001 with a major in Dietetics. He is a young professional who is making a difference in this community. After graduation, he took a position as dietitian with an extended care facility, Regency Place of Lafayette (now Signature Healthcare of Lafayette). As he worked with the facility’s population, he realized there was a real need for people to have a little help to gain or maintain independent living. So he decided to try something entrepreneurial to address the gap he saw. He investigated and pursued a Comfort Keepers franchise to provide non-medical in-home care for those in transition from rehabilitation, those who want to maintain independence in their own homes or those who are in assisted living and want to avoid or postpone a next step to a skilled nursing facility.
As with many start-up businesses, Scott’s began in his own home. There are two essential sides to this business, the actual business of caregiving and also working with funding sources available to clients, the VA, Medicaid and long-term care insurance plans. He got additional training so he could to train employees on essential skills they would need. He promotes Interactive Caregiving, which helps clients as needed yet encourages clients to actively participate in daily tasks to promote and maintain independence. It was a milestone day when the business had grown to the point it could support a store-front facility. He has opted to locate in proximity to a hospital, first by Home Hospital and then to Creasy Lane with good access to both local hospitals.
As the business grew, Scott has provided flexible job opportunities to compassionate people in the area to assist those in need with everyday living tasks and responsibilities. Quite a few students in this department have been employed through Scott’s business. Over the past 13 years, his business has served the community with about three-quarters of a million man-hours of one-on-one personalized care. In 2013, his Comfort Keepers agency received the Journal & Courier’s People’s Choice Award for the area’s Best Home Care Agency. Scott is recognized by many as a difference-maker and was actually nominated by more than one person for induction into the Hall of Fame.
Scott still keeps in his hand as a dietitian. He continues to work his original position with Signature Healthcare two days a week. He goes once a month to Kokomo to serve Bona Vista as a dietitian. He also serves Head Start and Guardian Angel Hospice. He says jokingly, “I have 5 jobs, so I am the only one who could understand my schedule.” Scott has three children, ages 6-10, and is busy with them every night of the week during this season, coaching two different baseball teams!
