Thursday May 8, 2014     

Annual May Conference and Hall of Fame

A program that inspires child care providers to promote healthy meals and snacks, nutrition education and role modeling for children throughout Indiana has received the Purdue Cooperative Extension Specialists Association's top award.

The Hancook Award, recognizing Extension educators and specialists who jointly develop programs focusing on families, was presented Thursday (Nov. 7) during a luncheon at the annual Purdue Extension Professional Development Conference.

The RECIPE for Growing Healthy Children program, an effort between the Department of Nutrition Science, Purdue Extension and the Indiana Department of Education, implements training for child care food service staff on planning and preparing meals and snacks to comply with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The acronym of RECIPE stands for the program's six workshop sections: role model for children; set up an environment that encourages healthy behaviors; create nutritious meals and snacks; involve children in food and fun; partner with parents; and enjoy eating together.

Team members are (from left) educators Jan Dougan of Dubois County, Christina Ferroli (Marion) and Inger Friend (Steuben); Nutrition Science continuing lecturer Barbara Mayfield; Extension specialist Lisa Graves; and educators Teresa Witkoske (Wabash) and Annette Lawler (Harrison).

"In just a few short years this program has shown improvement in the mealtime environment of children participating in child care programs," Angela Abbott, program leader and assistant director of Purdue Extension in HHS, wrote in a letter supporting the nomination of the team for the award. "This program is an important part of Purdue Extension's focus to deliver comprehensive, community-based health and nutrition programs."

The award is named in honor of Ann Hancook, a Purdue Extension program leader who died in 1993. Sponsors are the Indiana Extension Educators Association, Purdue University Cooperative Extension Specialists Association and the Alpha Lambda chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi, the Extension honor society.

The exhibit To MyPlate and Beyond, which was recently featured at the Indiana State Fair, earned the PUCESA Team Award during the luncheon. Members are (from left) Rebecca Stephens of the College of Agriculture, Lisa Graves (HHS), Melissa Maulding (HHS), Donna Vandergraff (HHS), Danica Kirkpatrick (Agriculture) and Angie Abbott (HHS). Not pictured: Connie Weaver of HHS and Gretchen Bertolet, Rob Snorek, Jason Thorne, Jeff Rollins, Kevin Smith and Mike Weber of Agriculture.

Adapted from article written by Jennifer Piotrowski and featured in the November 7, 2013 issue of Purdue News

Check out this list of interesting facts about the department that you may, or may not have known.  Did you know the department features:

25 faculty members/instructors

46 graduate students

358 undergraduate students (Fall 2013)

• 124 Didactic Program in Dietetics
• 21 Coordinated Program in Dietetics
• 44 Nutrition Fitness and Health
• 135 Dietetics and Nutrition, Fitness and Health
• 22 Nutrition Science
• 12 Foods and Nutrition in Business

Study abroad opportunities to 3 countries: Ireland, Australia and France

Purdue hosted the 5^th annual 2013 IBRC (Ingestive Behavior Research Center) international symposium on Eating Patterns, Dietary Quality and Energy Balance September 24-26, 2013. Experts in the field from across the globe served as presenters. The focus of the symposium was to investigate the link between eating patterns and health. The proceedings will be published in Physiology and Behavior in 2014.

Several Nutrition Science faculty including Drs. Richard Mattes, Wayne Campbell and Megan McCrory are part of the IBRC Executive Committee and also served as presenters. In addition, faculty members Drs. Nana Gletsu-Miller and Sibylle Kranz chaired sessions and Mario Ferruzzi helped plan the conference. Sessions focused on Food and Nutrient Patterns, Circadian Patterns, Infradian Patterns, Cultural Patterns, Pattern Disrupters, New Paradigms of Mechanistic Integration and Applications/Future Directions.

The Nutrition Science department’s fall Corporate Affiliates program held on September 27, also linked with these topics. The focus was Dietary Fat/Body Fat – Here, There and Everywhere. The session featured speakers included Drs. Rick Mattes, Kim Buhman and Wayne Campbell from Nutrition Science, Kim Kinzig from Psychology, Robert Considine from the IU School of Medicine and Steve Woods from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.

The Women’s Global Health Institute held its High Tea and Update on September 26, 2013.  Dr. Connie Weaver,  Distinguished Professor and Department Head, moderated the event.  

Mildred Elizabeth Edmundson Research Grant Recipients Chun-Jun Chang, Basic Medical Sciences and Yoon Yeo, Industrial and Physical Pharmacy reported their research.

Six breakout sessions were held to help provide input into the agendas for the Institute.  These sessions provided opportunities for faculty and staff across the university to begin potential collaborative efforts.

High Tea included presentations by Dr. Weaver related to Potential Risks with High Calcium Intakes; Jessica Huber on SpeechVIve, and Marietta Harrison describing Precision Medicine.

For more information, contact Li Yuan Bermel, Managing Director, lmi@purdue.edu.

On September 28, the Nutrition Science Graduate Student Organization (NSGSO) added to the homecoming festivities by hosting a potluck-style picnic after the football game.  While the Boilers didn’t win on the field this year, we scored with amazing weather and a great gathering of faculty, staff and students at the picnic. Six of our faculty, including Department Head Dr. Weaver and our three newest professors, and nearly half of our graduate students attended the dinner.  With the generous support of the Department, the NSGSO provided a variety of meat and vegetarian main dishes and guests brought a smorgasbord of delicious appetizers, side dishes, desserts and fresh fruits. 
The event provided an opportunity to converse and share ideas outside of the lab and the office. Next year the NSGSO hopes to throw the annual picnic on homecoming weekend again, so that alumni who are in town can come enjoy the event and reconnect with friends and mentors in the Department.  When autumn 2014 comes around keep an eye out for our next Fall Picnic invitation!