Green Mountain College Welcomes Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D. as Master of Science in Sustainable Food Systems Scholar-in-Residence
Public Invited to Free Presentation by Renowned Radio Host and “Dietitian on a Mission” Wednesday, February 15 at 7 pm at College’s Ackley Hall
Poultney, Vermont – Nationally known Food Sleuth®, radio host, speaker and award-winning writer Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D., will soon be helping Green Mountain College and people in the surrounding community to “think beyond their plates.”
Today, Green Mountain College, the nation’s number-one college for sustainability based education, announced that Ms. Hemmelgarn will be the 2017 Scholar-in-Residence for students completing their Master of Science in Sustainable Food Systems (MSFS). In addition to working intensively with each student from February 15-18, she will be making a free public presentation, “Food System Literacy: Thinking Beyond Our Plates to Find Food Truth (A Moral Imperative)” on Wednesday, February 15 at 7 pm in the college’s Ackley Hall. The community is invited to meet this “Dietitian on a Mission” and learn how their individual food and farming practices affect their health and environment. For more information, please contact Char Wessing at (802) 287-8346.
“We are thrilled to give our graduate students the opportunity to learn from Melinda Hemmelgarn,” said Dr. Robin Currey, MSFS Program Director. “She is an engaging speaker, accomplished educator and passionate humanitarian. In addition, she shares our mission of fostering a sustainable society through a more purposeful approach to food and farming.”
Of the time Ms. Hemmelgarn will spend at Green Mountain College, she said: “In our new political atmosphere of ‘fake news,’ ‘post-truth’ and ‘alternative facts,’ we citizens need critical questions to find ‘food truth.’ That’s what I hope to bring to the students and larger community.”
Ms. Hemmelgarn has more than 35 years’ experience in clinical, academic, and public health nutrition. Recognizing the power of media to influence food choice, she created and directed the Nutrition Communication Center at the University of Missouri - Columbia, and blazed the trail blending media literacy with nutrition education. She wrote a weekly newspaper column for 25 years, and hosted Food Sleuth TV on community access television. Her weekly Food Sleuth Radio program is syndicated through Pacifica and Public Radio Exchange, and ranks among the nation’s top “green food radio shows.”
In 2004, Ms. Hemmelgarn was awarded a Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellowship, which allowed her to connect the dots between food, health and agriculture. She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Union of Concerned Scientists Science Network, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She is also a leader within the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition practice group, where she created and chairs the annual “HEN Film Feastival.” In 2014, Today’s Dietitian Magazine named her one of the nation’s “Top 10 Dietitians Making a Difference,” and in 2015, she received the “Excellence in Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Leadership” award from her Academy peers.
Ms. Hemmelgarn serves on the Boards of Beyond Pesticides and the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services. She writes regularly for Organic Valley’s Rootstock Blog, and ACRES USA, where she explains the health benefits of organic food and agro-ecological farming methods.
Green Mountain College’s MSFS program provides a graduate-level, interdisciplinary understanding of sustainable agricultural production, and a deep knowledge of the economic, ecological and social forces driving food systems. Participants complete their course work online and attend two optional on-campus residencies—one at the beginning of each year. During each residency, Green Mountain College faculty and the Scholar-in-Residence work intensively with students to develop an academic experience that meets their professional goals.
Other online graduate programs at Green Mountain College lead to a Sustainable MBA, Master of Science in Resilient and Sustainable Communities, and Master of Science in Environmental Studies. For more information, please go to http://www.greenmtn.edu/academics/graduate/. For information on the MSFS program and the February Residency, visit http://www.greenmtn.edu/academics/graduate/msfs/msfs-residencies/.
About Green Mountain College
The nation’s number-one college and curriculum for sustainability, Green Mountain College prepares students seeking to build meaningful careers pursuing social, economic and environmental sustainability. The college’s holistic sustainability based education, built on a core sustainability focused general education curriculum, enables students to develop the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in our rapidly changing world. Benefiting from a purposeful, personal, and practical education, 97 percent of Green Mountain College alumni are employed or in graduate school and 95 percent of Green Mountain College graduates report satisfaction from their careers. The college also offers online master’s degree programs, and a three-year B.S. degree in partnership with The Killington Resort. For more information, please see www.greenmtn.edu
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