Nutrition program
Are you interested in learning about food and how it can influence your health?
A nutrition minor might be the right supplement for your major. You'll gain the knowledge and skills to improve your personal health and lifestyle choices, as well as experience for many food and health-related careers.
The 18-credit nutrition minor is part of our award-winning Biology Department. It complements a variety of majors at UWL such as: biology, marketing, psychology, health education and health promotion, exercise and sport science, and many pre-health programs.
With TV shows, books and the internet filled with diet and nutrition information, nutrition education helps you cut through the clutter and make good health decisions that benefit yourself and others.
What is nutrition?
Nutrition is the study of nutrients in food and what they do for the body. Food and nutrition are an integral part of everyone’s daily lives and many factors influence how people choose the food they eat. In UWL's nutrition minor, students will learn about different aspects of food and nutrition, from individual nutrient needs, to the nutrient needs of specific groups, to how food is produced in a safe manner.
The faculty in the UWL Nutrition program are engaged and knowledgeable. I had the opportunity to build my nutrition knowledge base, explore new research, and gain insight into future careers. My nutrition minor from UWL was the jumping off point for my career in nutrition research.
Rachel Fenske, Ph. D., RDN
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How will a nutrition minor help my career?
Although the UWL nutrition minor does not provide the coursework or the supervised practice requirements to be eligible for the registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) credential, the coursework is valuable for students pursuing careers in food and health-related fields. It is also a great foundation for food science and technology careers. Learn more about accredited dietetics programs.
The nutrition minor provides basic nutrition knowledge that is complementary to many health-related practitioners such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors, medical doctors, physician assistants, dentists and more. A variety of elective courses allows students to focus on specific topics within the nutrition field.
What distinguishes UWL's nutrition program?
The UWL nutrition minor is unique in that it provides coursework in a variety of academic disciplines taught by experts in those areas. For example, students could dig into topics such as "food and history" or "the anthropology of food."
Gain hands-on experience using a variety of food and anthropometric analysis tools that are used by professionals in the food science and nutrition fields.
Students have the option of completing a field experience where skills and knowledge learned in coursework is applied in a variety of community settings such as grocery stores, schools, community gardens, local health departments or local businesses.
Students can join in collaborative research projects with faculty mentors. Courses also offer the opportunity to engage with the material, including practicing food preparation skills.
The nutrition minor requires nine credits of core coursework to provide a foundation of food and nutrition knowledge. The other nine required credits come from a variety of elective courses including: anthropology of food; medical anthropology; economic botany; philosophy of food; nutrition education; advanced nutrition for health professions; functional food, herbs, and supplements; nutrition and sport; food microbiology; nutrition research; nutrition teaching assistant; and biochemistry.
Students have the opportunity to gain a broader view of the field by collaborating with peers from diverse fields. The 285 declared nutrition minors in the fall 2019 came from at least 15 different majors.
Sample courses
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