FORMAT FOR APR COMMITTEE REPORTS TO THE FACULTY SENATE
1. The Academic Program Review (APR) Committee makes recommendations about
each program that it reviews in written reports to the Faculty Senate. The APR
Committee Report to the Faculty Senate should provide constructive feedback that
encourages program improvement. APR should provide a report to Faculty Senate
using the reporting grid attached to this document. In addition, APR may choose to
request a mid-review period follow-up (3 years) to concerns raised regarding the
program.
2. All materials referenced by the APR Committee should be in electronic format and
are received from the Deans’ Office. The following materials comprise the report
to APR:
 The APR Self-Study Report provided by the departmental self-study
committee (including the annual reports and other important departmental
documents contained therein);
 the unit data sheet provided by the Office of Institutional Research to the
department under review
 the report of the external consultant(s) or accreditation agency;
 the departmental response to the aforementioned reports; and
 the dean’s summary report, which is prepared by the dean after reviewing
the APR Self-Study Report, the external consultant’s or accreditation
agency’s report, and the departmental response to this report.
Approved by Faculty Senate 9/28/06
Page 1 of 8
Academic Program Review SUMMARY*
Program under review Nutrition Minor
Date self-study received in Dean’s office May 2013
Date of external consultant’s review Not Applicable
Date APR received report September 2013
APR’S summary of self-study (first two boxes must be completed)
APR’s summary of how the academic program attempts to reach its goals and objectives
and the extent to which those goals and objectives have been achieved.
The Nutrition Minor was developed starting in 2005 by an interdisciplinary group of faculty and
approved for implementation starting Spring semester 2007. The Nutrition Minor is an autonomous
minor (free standing minor) and is housed in the Biology Department. The 18 credit Nutrition
Minor has three core Nutrition (NUT) classes (9 credits) and the remaining 9 credits come from 14
elective courses. The core courses are designed to provide a survey of key issues and applications
of food and nutrition knowledge and skills. The Nutrition Minor is a popular interdisciplinary
program. It has attracted students from diverse majors, such as Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry,
Microbiology, Radiation Therapy, Athletic Training, Psychology, Sociology, Archeology, Spanish,
Community Health Education, Recreation Management, etc. Since its inception, students from
twenty-three different majors from across the campus have pursued a nutrition minor.
The program, without the use of formal recruitment tools, has been very successful in attracting
students. Student, faculty, and staff word of mouth seem to be the most valuable recruiting tool.
However, the program also utilizes a website, social media, a brochure, guest lectures in the
Introduction to Health Professions (H-P 106) course as well as the Student Nutrition Association to
communicate Nutrition Minor Information.
During Fall 2007, one hundred and seventy students were enrolled as Nutrition Minors. The
enrollment in the program reached 392 in Fall 2010 and recorded a slight drop (379) in Fall 2011.
Four students graduated in 2007-2008 academic year with Nutrition as their minor. During 20092010 and 2010-2011 fifty-one and forty-five students, respectively, graduated with the Nutrition
Minor.
The faculty have established an active network with more than thirty local, regional and national
organizations, such as YMCA, La Crosse County Health Department, Century Foods International,
Main Street Ingredients, Boston Scientific, Frodert Hospital, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center,
Mayo Health system, etc. These interactions, between 2007 and 2013, have provided field and
research experiences to more than one hundred students.
The goal of the program is to provide food and nutrition knowledge and practical skills to students
pursuing a wide range of majors across the campus so that graduates can:
a. make health-supporting decisions
b. encourage others to make health-supporting decisions
c. critically evaluate food and nutrition information based on evidence
d. identify and participate in addressing the key food and nutrition-related challenges that
Page 2 of 8
people face at local, state, national, international and universal levels, and
e. obtain nutrition-related jobs or pursue nutrition-related undergraduate and graduate
programs.
APR’s comments including:
Notable Strengths
1. The core faculty are extremely well-qualified. Three of the involved faculty members
hold and maintain the credential of Registered Dietitian (R.D.), which requires
continuing education.
2. The faculty are genuinely interested in, and devoted to, the needs and success of the
students.
3. The curriculum is well designed.
4. The curricular content of the program is both current and relevant.
5. The program provides internship experiences (Field Experience) for students interested
in pursuing the opportunity. Currently, internships appear to be one of the preferred
routes of gaining meaningful employment after graduation, the core nutrition faculty
encourage and aid students seeking these opportunities.
6. The interdisciplinary nature of the minor actively promotes internal and external
collaborative opportunities among faculty, students, and community partners.
Notable Weaknesses
1. The program needs to develop and implement an assessment plan.
2. The program needs to develop and implement a plan to measure the student learning
outcomes for the program.
3. The program is saddled with very high instructional workload, Student Credit Hour per
Instructional Full Time Equivalent (SCH/IFTE). Undergraduate SCH/IFTE for the
University is 281, whereas for the Nutrition program it is 547.
4. Limited opportunities for students to become involved in on-campus nutrition research.
APR comments on any/all of the six specific components of the self-study (if applicable)
Self Study: Purposes
The purpose of the Nutrition Minor is to provide interested students across the campus with
foundational food and nutrition knowledge and practical skills.
Self Study: Curriculum
To earn the Nutrition Minor, students have to complete 18 credits. The three courses, Human
Nutrition (NUT 200), Life-cycle Nutrition (NUT 300), and Food Science and Safety (NUT 400)
constitute the 9 required credits to earn a minor. To fulfill the remaining 9 credits, the students can
choose from a list of 14 courses offered by various departments/programs (Anthropology, Biology,
Page 3 of 8
Chemistry and Biochemistry, Exercise and Sports Science, Health Education, Microbiology, and
Nutrition). Of the three required courses, NUT 200 is offered both as a face-to-face and an online
course. One other nutrition (NUT 350: Functional Foods, Herbs and Supplements) class is offered
online for 1 credit. The NUT prefix courses do not overlap with any other major or minor.
To provide experiences to students in all aspects of foods and nutrition, the program is proposing
adding additional courses to the list of electives. Some of these proposed courses are already on the
books, for example, Economics of Sustainability (ECO 315), Health Psychology (PSY 334),
Behavior Modification (PSY 401), and Theories of Health Behavior (HED 437). Several new
courses are also being proposed as electives, for example, Food Science Lab (NUT 401), Food
Safety (NUT 430), and Food Systems (NUT 440).
Self Study: Assessment of Student Learning & Degree of Program Success
Nutrition is an interdisciplinary minor. Moreover, students can choose from a plethora of elective
courses to complete the required number of credits to earn the Nutrition Minor. This obviously
makes it very difficult to measure Student Learning Outcomes for the entire program. The nutrition
faculty are aware of this dilemma. In this regard, nutrition faculty associated with the Biology
Department have attended the CATL Program Assessment Workshop and have met with Dr.
Patrick Barlow, Assessment Coordinator. As a start, the faculty have developed a Curriculum Map
involving core classes and high demand electives and have begun to formulate an assessment plan.
The faculty have developed Student Learning Objectives for four NUT prefix classes (NUT 200,
NUT 300, NUT 400, and NUT 450). The initial goal for the program is to assess three Learning
Objectives: (1) Demonstrate knowledge of the biological and chemical basis of nutrition, (2)
Demonstrate knowledge of the contents, production and distribution of food, and (3) Demonstrate
knowledge of food and nutrition considerations across the lifecycle, with the help of NUT 200,
NUT 300, and NUT 400 courses. The program is focusing on further defining, developing and
implementing direct and indirect measures to assess Student Learning Outcomes.
Self Study: Previous Academic Program Review and New Program Initiatives
The Nutrition Minor came to existence during Spring semester 2007. The program is being
reviewed for the first time by the Academic Program Review Committee.
The program is proposing to develop additional elective courses to add opportunities for students to
gain knowledge and/or skills in Food Safety, Food Systems, and Food Science. The program is also
exploring the option of developing a Nutrition Capstone course to help assess the program success.
Self Study: Personnel
As of the time this Self-Study was submitted, the Nutrition program is served by two faculty and three
Instructional Academic Staff (one position is vacant) members. Each member’s association with the
program ranges from 0.1 to 0.6 FTE. Total FTE allocated to the program ranges from 1.3 to 1.7 FTE. Of the
current four members, three are affiliated with the Biology Department and one is affiliated with the Health
Page 4 of 8
Education Health Promotion Departments. The vacant IAS position resides in the Biology Department.
Three members of the Nutrition faculty have terminal degrees and three members have Registered Dietician
credentials. The program is seeking another GQA position, affiliated with HEHP, to relieve pressure on
NUT and high demand elective courses. Also, a Coordinator/Director to develop and oversee the assessment
plan, act as liaison between the program and the local, regional, and national organizations to secure field
experience/internship/research experience opportunities for the students will further strengthen the program
The program started in Fall 2007 with 0.4 IFTE. Between 2007 and 2011, the IFTE assigned to the program
ranged from 0.4 to 1.33. During this period the SCH/IFTE generated by the program ranged from 240 to
547. In comparison, the University wide SCH/IFTE during the same period was 278 – 324.
The program receives administrative support from the Biology Department ADA. The Biology Department
Office is located in Cowley Hall, whereas, the Nutrition faculty offices are located in Health Sciences
Center. One afternoon per week one student worker attends to the program’s administrative work. The
viability and effectiveness of such arrangement may need periodic assessment.
Self Study: Support for Achieving Academic Program Goals (Resources)
The physical facilities available to teach face-to-face and online lecture courses seem to meet the
requirements of the program. However, laboratory facilities to teach food science/culinary and food
safety labs are currently not available on campus. On the other hand, such lab spaces may be
available for rent at Western Technical College, Viterbo University, and Coulee Region Business
Center. Ensuring the availability of these facilities requires a high degree of cooperation and
coordination among the participants. This makes it very difficult to offer the laboratory curriculum
in a predictable manner. To alleviate this problem, the Nutrition faculty have proposed planning for
a foods lab with four perimeter kitchen stations and movable stainless steel prep tables in the new
science building or in the basement of Health Science Center.
One Instructional Academic Staff and two faculty members associated with the program are
research active. At present, Dr. Maher’s research lab (HSC 0043) is the only facility that is
equipped with the tools frequently used in nutrition research. Students interested in pursuing
Nutrition research can do so by making arrangements with Dr. Maher. However, this seems to be
inadequate to meet the student demand for research opportunities.
Since the inception of the program in Spring 2007, Nutrition faculty have been acquiring key
equipment such as mobile kitchen, statiometer, bioelectrical impedance analyzer, gas
chromatograph, viscometer, water activity meter, calorimeter, etc., through grants and funding
from College Office.
External Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on External Reviewer (if applicable)
Not Applicable
Department’s response to the Reviewer Recommendations
Page 5 of 8
APR’s Comments on the Department’s Response (if applicable)
Not Applicable
Dean’s Letter
APR’s Comments on Dean’s Letter (if applicable)
Overall, the Academic Program Review Committee concurs with Dean Bruce Riley’s summary
about the Nutrition Minor’s strengths. The program strengths highlighted by the Dean are listed
under Notable Strengths above. In his letter, the Dean emphasizes that ‘the College would find it
difficult to support any change that would result in the dismantling or orphaning of the Nutrition
Minor.’ This speaks to the success of the Nutrition Minor as an interdisciplinary program.
The letter also identifies at least four concerns:
1. A possible misperception that some faculty are more or less qualified because of their
Registered Dietitian credentials (or lack of it) may actually distract students from the value
and usefulness of the information and training they are actually receiving.
The promotional materials used by the Nutrition Program such as brochure, description on the
website, etc., clearly identify who the experts in Nutrition are. If prospective students pay attention
to the information provided in the promotional material, there should be very little room for any
misperception.
2. Much of the enrollment in the minor is concentrated within 6 courses (NUT 200, 300, 400,
BIO 428, ESS 323, and HED 474). Given the interdisciplinary nature of the program, the
Dean is of the opinion that instead of the majority of the course load being borne by the
individuals specifically hired to teach in the Nutrition Minor, it should be more evenly
distributed across the broad array of approved courses.
The Academic Program Review Committee believes that Nutrition Faculty and Instructional
Academic Staff have very little control over the course selections by the students. Since majority of
Nutrition Minors are from Exercise and Sports Science, Biology, and Health Education programs,
it is very likely that students gravitate towards these programs to complete their requirements for
the minor.
3. Addition of more NUT prefixed courses would move the minor further away from its
interdisciplinary roots.
Although this is an important concern, it should not prevent the Nutrition faculty from providing
broader course offerings to students genuinely interested in Nutrition education. Courses such as
Food Science, Food Systems, etc., do not fit well with the existing programs, BIO, MIC, CHM,
ESS, etc., for example. Therefore, it makes better sense to offer these courses as NUT courses.
However, to maintain the interdisciplinary nature of the program, placing a requirement for a
minimum number of credits/courses from outside the discipline should be explored.
Page 6 of 8
4. The Dean asserts that although the projected future job growth in nutrition and food science
sounds optimistic, enrollment and potential graduates from existing nutrition and food
science education programs appear to significantly outpace the projected number of new
and replacement positions in these fields.
Although this an important concern and may impact the future enrollment in the program, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor projects a very healthy twenty one
percent increase in jobs for Dietitians and Nutritionists between 2012 and 2022
(http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dietitians-and-nutritionists.htm).
The Dean also opines that although faculty can maintain their Registered Dietitian credentials
through professional development and discipline specific practice, such certifications and
credentials are not required for the positions to which faculty have been hired. However, to
maintain the high profile for the program and to develop new and cultivate existing relationships
with external agencies to expand student internship/field experience opportunities, it seems
appropriate to fill the position of Nutrition Minor Coordinator/Director with a Registered Dietitian
credentialed individual.
APR’s Recommendations (must be completed)
Recommendations:
1. In consultation with the University Assessment Coordinator and SAH Assessment
Committee, develop and implement Program Assessment, and Student Learning Outcomes.
2. Strive to maintain the interdisciplinary nature of the program by promoting elective course
development and support by the departments outside of the minor home.
3. Develop a plan with strong justification to seek teaching and research laboratory space in
the new science building to promote skills development of nutrition minors.
4. Strive to strengthen the network of relationships you have established with the local and
regional businesses/healthcare facilities/schools and communities in order to continue and
expand the wide range of field experience/internship opportunities available to Nutrition
Minors.
5. Establish a Nutrition Minor Coordinator/Director to oversee assessment, maintain alumni
relations, maintain communication and collaborative relationships between UW-La Crosse
and the community affiliates that provide field experiences/internship opportunities to
students, and act as a liaison between departments that offer Nutrition Minor courses.
6. Work with the departments associated with the program and the Dean to address the high
SCH/IFTE issue (281 for the University vs 547 for the Nutrition Program) so that the
quality of the program remains high.
Page 7 of 8
7. Support faculty/staff efforts for continuing education and professional development
activities to keep up-to-date in this broad and dynamic content area to maintain high quality
and relevancy of the program.
X No serious areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle
□ Some areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle
□ Some areas to address – department should submit short report on progress to Faculty
Senate/Provost’s Office in 3 years
* APR’s report to faculty senate will consist of this completed form in electronic form.
Page 8 of 8