HNFS Alum, Staff Member Earn Honors
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A Human Nutrition & Food Science alumna and staff member were honored April 27 with the Cal Poly Pomona Center for Community Engagement’s Reach Beyond Awards.
Suzanne Bryant (’99, human nutrition and food science) and Frances Loya, the administrative support coordinator for the department, were chosen for the honors because of their work with the Center for Community Engagement, developing sustainable partnerships with the community or industry through service learning, volunteering, or academic internships.
After graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, Bryant worked for Pillsbury, where she had interned as a student and then Puratos. She joined BakeMark USA’s Research & Development Department in 2003 and became internship coordinator two years later.
The internship program exposes students to all aspects of product development, including hands-on lab work with company scientists. Interns also are expected to learn and understand what happens to the products post-development and are encouraged to participate in product evaluation and attend executive meetings.
BakeMark keeps the students on as part-time employees after their internships are over and they have graduated. The company mentors the students as they search for full-time jobs, and Bryant helps them with resume building, job searches and making industry connections.
The center praised Bryant and BakeMark USA as “great examples of a solid partnership between an internship agency and the university.”
Loya began working for Cal Poly Pomona in the registrar’s office in 2013 and then moved to the Department of Human Nutrition & Food Science the following year as the administrative support coordinator.
She assists the department chair and also provides administrative assistance to more than 700 students and 22 instructors. She also works closely with the Center for Community Engagement to help collect agreements for academic internships and assists with troubleshooting problems.
The center lauded Loya in particular for going above and beyond the call of duty to guide students on how to complete the internship applications and learning objectives.
Loya was also chosen as the Huntley College of Agriculture’s Staff of the Year Award this spring.