This fall, the College will offer the first two years of WVU’s Human Nutrition and Foods major on the Keyser campus. The program is designed for individuals interested in pursuing a career as a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Students interested in pursuing a career as a registered dietician or nutritionist will have an academic pathway at West Virginia University Potomac State College, which is offering the new major in Fall 2022.
This new major will prepare students in their first two years of study with the needed math, chemistry, biology, social sciences and nutrition courses to go on and complete their third and fourth years on the Morgantown campus in WVU’s Human Nutrition and Foods Bachelor of Science degree program.
The Human Nutrition and Foods major focuses on the relationships between food consumption, human development and health. It includes instruction in the cellular and molecular functions of food processing in the human body, related metabolic processes, the relationship of food and nutrition to disease, and nutritional needs across the life span.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of dieticians and nutritionists is projected to grow 11 percent from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average for all occupations. The median annual wage for dieticians and nutritionists was $63,090 in May 2020.
Dieticians serve many roles in their communities, including working in hospitals, centers for the aging, rehabilitation centers, school systems, universities and food services, among many other places. There’s also the option to serve nonprofits providing nutrition advice to the general population.
The WVU path to becoming a registered dietitian and nutritionist includes a Bachelor of Science degree, completing a dietetic internship from an Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics-accredited program, and passing the national registration exam.
“The advantage of students starting this major on the Potomac State College campus is that we offer small-class sizes allowing for enhanced interaction between students and their professors,” said Vicki Huffman, the biology professor who created this major. “The first two years of Human Nutrition and Foods are extremely important because we help build a solid foundation for students to be successful in the upper-level math, sciences and nutrition courses. We strive to increase the success rate of our students when they continue to Morgantown to pursue their bachelor’s degree.”
To learn more about Potomac State College’s new Human Nutrition and Foods major, visit go.wvu.edu/psc-human-nutrition-foods or contact Enrollment Services at 304-788-6820 or email: go2psc@mail.wvu.edu.