University News
Dietetics Program Accredited
January 8, 2007
MACOMB, IL -- Western Illinois University's dietetics program has been accredited for the first time by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education of the American Dietetic Association.
According to Karen Greathouse, director of Western's didactic program in dietetics, the accreditation's importance is two-fold.
"First, it's to ensure the quality of the program. Second, it's to protect the public," explained Greathouse. "We want to make sure that employers know our graduates are competent and ready to practice."
The accreditation process, which took about one-and-a-half years to complete, was divided into a self-study and an onsite evaluation. The self-study reviewed everything from graduates' performance to the skills students acquire through the program.
"The self-study helps us to ensure that our students are obtaining professional values and are able to interact with others," she added.
After the submission of the self-study, a team from the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education visited Western to evaluate the study and the program.
"They interviewed every constituent: the students, the advisory board, graduates, faculty, the dean, the provost and the chair of our department," Greathouse said. "They also looked at student projects, exams and asked questions like 'How did you learn about ...' to confirm the study."
At the end of this process, Western's dietetics program joined the nearly 228 universities with such an accreditation.
Western's dietetics program focuses on core competencies in community nutrition, dietetics and clinical dietetics. Once students prove themselves in those three areas, they can take the registration exam with allows them to become registered dietitians. In addition, students are required to complete 900 supervised internship hours in the three areas. Students in this program may obtain jobs as broad as working at school lunch programs to being a sports dietician, Greathouse explained.
For more information on the dietetics program at WIU, visit www.wiu.edu/dfmh/dietetics.htm.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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