To improve nutrition and dietetics education and make it more easily accessible, three higher education institutions have come together, and the plan is to put a focus on diversifying the workforce.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Mount Mary University have come together and received a $30,000 Higher Education Challenge Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Their assignment was to plan pathways for students to move nutrition and dietetics programs that currently exist and those that are planned, to make it easier to earn degrees and certifications in the field.

Mount Mary University announced the program in a news release.

The infrastructure is a key goal of the planning grant – and the three institutions will be working to build infrastructure between the three that make it easier for students to pursue degrees innutrition and dietetics to enter those professions, and students from marginalized groups are a priority, said Lori Klos, associate professor of Nutritional sciences at UWM’s College of Health Sciences. 

Klos is the project director, and she is joined by co-directors Heidi Katte of MATC’s dietary instruction program and Patricia Kempen, who is the department chair for Mount Mary’s dietetics program.

“While we can build in education to help nutritional professionals to be culturally competent, we want to make sure that our professionals operating in this field are as diverse as the communities that they serve,” Klos said.

The diversity of Milwaukee County’s population is not represented in a good way within the profession. The project summary notes that about 27% of Milwaukee County residents identify as African American and 15% identify as Hispanic or Latino, but no more than 1% of the credentialed nutrition professionals in the state are from underrepresented groups.

“Milwaukee has a rich blend of diverse people,” Katte said. “I have had the opportunity to work and teach here for over 25 years at a variety of health care and academic institutions. With this USDA planning grant opportunity, we are working to ensure all students with interest in nutrition are able to efficiently move through our local higher education settings, gaining the knowledge, skills and abilities to return and work in their communities.”

All three organizations offer or are planning to offer dietetics-related courses and degrees. The grant is to help them create a network that includes all levels of preparation from a professional certification to a master’s degree in the field. Students could transfer easily among the programs, which would work together on curriculum development and instruction systems to expand student opportunities, Klos said.

The collaborative efforts will also focus on broadening the education of future professionals in the field to explore food insecurity and hunger, specifically in the Milwaukee area. As the coronavirus epidemic has demonstrated, Klos said. Low-income and communities of color are particularly affected by health issues.

The USDA planning grant runs for 20 months through spring 2022. At that point, according to Klos and the grant team, they will apply for additional grant funds from USDA to start implementing the changes.