College and Nursing to offer joint minor in nutrition

The Nursing School and the College of Arts and Sciences will be offering a new joint minor in nutrition, according to Nursing Dean Mary Naylor. The idea for the minor was developed several years ago, as an attempt by the Nursing School "to share their intellectual strengths with the University," Naylor said. And although a nutrition minor has been offered in the Nursing School for about one year, this is the first time that it is offered as a joint minor between the schools, she added. College Dean Robert Rescorla said that the new minor is a positive development in the relationship between the University's undergraduate schools. "We are anxious to make the boundaries between undergraduate schools more permeable," he said. "This is a good first attempt to provide interschool minors." Naylor said the Nursing School aims to make nutrition a minor available to all undergraduates. Wharton and Engineering students' participation in the program will be decided based on their curriculum, she added. A committee consisting of Nursing professors Mary Ann Lafferty-Dellavalle, Zoriana Malseed and Emma Weigley, Economics Professor Jere Behrman, History Professor David Ludden and Anthropology Professor Rebecca Huss-Ashmore helped to organize the minor. The minor will require at least three core courses dealing with the science of nutrition, and at least three "selectives" -- courses that study social applications of nutrition, Naylor said. The minor differs from the nutrition minor the Nursing School had previously offered because it adds "some depth and exposure to the core courses," she added. Naylor also said that a strong advising program will be offered for those who choose to participate in the minor. Both Naylor and Rescorla said they are very excited about the program. "I think the thing that is the most exciting for the School of Nursing is that we can capitalize on the strengths of our school, and join them with the intellectual strength of other schools," Naylor said. "The students are exposed to a very important content area, and the minor serves as a model of schools working together based on student desires and needs." Rescorla agreed that the new minor will enhance the University's offerings to undergraduates. "Although this will not affect a lot of College students, it will appeal to some -- and they will get a very good program," he said.

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