After a review of the 5-year Program Assessment Report by the Accreditation Council of Education in Nutrition and Dietetics Board, the coordinated program has been granted continued accredited status through December 31, 2019.
The program continues to enhance important skills through extracurricular and innovative programs in collaboration with dynamic registered dietitians across the state. For example, students engage in a day-long media workshop hosted by the Kansas Beef Council and Manhattan HyVee annually. Students gain valuable hands-on experience in providing nutrition messaging to different audiences, participate in a mock live video-recorded interviews, and conduct cooking demonstrations. Regional and national media experts mentor students during the day. Several recent graduates have utilized this knowledge first-hand in recent media interviews about healthy eating during the holidays, school food safety and nutrition standards, and other topics.
Students enrolled in their management practicum also attend Jumpstart for School Foodservice Directors hosted by Kansas Child Nutrition and Wellness consultants every semester at the K-State Alumni Center. Students learn about regulatory standards required of new school foodservice directors and network with other RDs and new school foodservice directors across the state.
Another highlight during this semester is the K-State Challenge Course, where faculty and students join together to apply management, communication and team building in a fun and challenging outdoor environment.
Enhancing clinical competence remains an important goal of the program, too. Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City hosts a pediatric workshop annually where students learn about new developments in pediatric medical nutrition therapy. Coordinated program students also attend the Public Policy Workshop in Topeka each year hosted by the Kansas Dietetic Association to learn about public policy issues that impact the dietetic profession. During this workshop, students visit Kansas legislators and advocate for the profession. The coordinated program continues to offer a balanced exposure to management, clinical, and community practice.
In December 2014, six students graduated from the coordinated program in dietetics at Kansas State University. Of these six students, four have taken and successfully passed the registration exam and three are employed. Currently, there are 12 students in the clinical semester who will graduate in May 2015 and three in the management semester who will graduate in December 2015. A new class of 12 students was admitted to the coordinated program in dietetics in March 2015 and will begin their community rotation in the summer 2015.
Key performance indicator trends:
- 5-year Job Placement: 89 percent
- 2-year Job Placement: 94 percent
- 5-year RD Exam 1st Time Pass rate: 87 percent
- 2-year RD Exam 1st Time Pass rate: 91 percent