History

The Estudiante de Dietética, also known as the ED program was developed with the purpose of training undergraduate dietetic students to better serve the Hispanic/Latino community. The Department of Nutrition and Food Science received a three-year grant from the United States Department (USDA) that expanded the dietetic curriculum and develop Spanish-language skills and focus on Latino culture as well as food and health issues.

The program objectives were:

1. Create and evaluate a novel curricular approach to training dietetic students, which produces dietetic students who are better able to serve the Hispanic community
2. To produce dietetic students who are more culturally competent an comfortable working with the Hispanic community.
3. To develop three dietetic training modules focused on major nutrition issues affecting the Hispanic population and integrate and evaluate them within the curriculum.
4. To increase recruitment and retention of Hispanic students into the dietetic major.

Up to date, the program has graduated five cohorts composed of a diverse group of individuals.