The university’s role in promoting nutrition education at the high school level was the focus of a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Janet Colson, a professor of nutrition and food science, first aired June 14 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and www.wmot.org.

You can listen to their conversation via the podcast below.

Colson and other nutrition professionals conducted a free June 9 workshop in the Ellington Human Sciences Building for high school teachers to help them understand how to teach nutrition at the high school level.

MTSU is the only university in Tennessee that offers both dual credit and dual enrollment learning experiences in the field of nutrition.

“Nutrition Across the LifeSpan” is an introductory class in the Department of Human Sciences that covers pregnancy, lactation, feeding young children, nutrition for older adults and other topics for high school students at the sophomore level. A dual credit exam and the end of the class can earn the student three hours of college credit.

“Nutrition, Science and Diet Therapies,” which is taught at the junior level, covers nutrients and special diets for people who have diabetes, hypertension, cancer, celiac disease and other conditions that require individualized attention. Passing this dual enrollment course can result in three hours of college credit.

Colson, along with nutrition and food science professor Sandra Poirier and MTSU alumna and registered dietitian nutritionist Yvonne Dadson, chose and revamped the content of “Introduction to Nutrition and Wellness,” their program’s beginning text.

“Most of the nutrition textbooks are for college students in their 20s, and they really leave out the information that is pertinent to high school students,” Colson said.

For more information about the radio program, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.