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New department unveiled at TAMU
Texas
Texas A&M University is known for its long-standing traditions. But that doesn't mean nothing new ever happens.
On Sept. 13 the university will officially open its new department of nutrition and food science. The new department head is Dr. Michael McBurney, a newcomer to Texas.
McBurney is excited and optimistic about this new venture, he said.
"The basic program has been here, both undergraduates and graduates in nutrition and food science," he said, "but it wasn't offered in a department."
Previously courses were offered through other departments, including animal science and horticulture, but now they are all under one roof.
McBurney said this first year will represent the foundation of a house of learning he and others hope to build.
This new effort came about through what he called a "grass-roots movement of researchers and teachers who felt the need to offer the program in these disciplines," he said. Because of health-related issues such as obesity, diabetes, value-added foods and their impact on health and the economy--it was decided "to form one of the first new departments in 20-plus years."
Currently 472 students are enrolled in the new department, which started offering classes this fall. The administrative offices are at 122 Kleberg Center at Texas A&M.
"It's a new department with 10 new faculty posts to be filled in the next few years," McBurney said. These faculty members will be the supporting pillars for the walls of the new department, he added with a smile.
The goal is to offer new courses to students, both undergraduate and graduate, and to "expand and enhance the research area," he said.
The first two new faculty positions to be filled will be:
--A food chemist, who will focus on food functionality, food stabilization through the manufacturing and distribution systems, and enhancement of the health benefits of foods; and
--A cellular and molecular nutritionist, who will focus on the component and nutrient value of foods and teach the process of how foods affect the body's metabolism health.
Other new faculty positions will be in the fields of nutrition and food science, McBurney said, which will allow them to "...work with (Texas Cooperative) Extension and Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, so we can be talking not just as scientists to scientists, but also to help transfer knowledge into the community."
This will help Texans learn to make healthful food and lifestyle choices, he said.
Graduates of the new department earn degrees in either nutrition or food science, he said, and those degrees can take them in several career directions.
Some may choose to earn a registered dietitian certification and work in hospitals, food service, restaurants, food industry or as dietary counselors, McBurney said.
"Many other students work as health counselors at fitness clubs or enter medical school or graduate programs in nutrition sciences," he said. "Many are ideal candidates to work for food corporations, such as Kellogg's, Nestle, Cargill and Tyson Foods."
McBurney comes from a professional background that includes both business and academia. Before accepting the position at Texas A&M, he spent eight years working in research and development and product development with Kellogg's in Battle Creek, Mich.
"Before that I was a professor of nutrition (for 10 years) at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada," he said.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and a master's degree and a doctorate in nutrition from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He also did a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto.
As the new head of nutrition and food sciences, McBurney listed some goals of his own for the new department.
"I would like to see growth in our undergraduate (program)--and I don't think it has to be huge, probably 10 percent growth (each year)," he said. "Just as important, I would like to see our undergraduate students graduate in four years.
"I want to have a program that welcomes students from many different backgrounds and meets the needs of Texas students who come here to learn. I want ... food industries and health organizations to think of us as the place to come and hire people and to seek expert opinions to get research insights and solutions to real-life problems.
"I want to see us to be the preferred department of food science and nutrition in the United States if not the world."
For more information visit the department's website at http://nfs.tamu.edu/.
Date: 9/22/05
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