History

1910 | The history of Dietetics and Nutrition Department traced back to the establishment of Household Arts Program.
 
1919 | The Household Arts Program evolves to form Vocational Homemaking Department.
 
1931 | Home Economic Department forms with food, clothing, and family programs.
 
1948 | SUNY established under Gov. Dewey.
 
1960 | Home Economic enrollment was 205.
 
1963 | Caudell Hall dedicated with $1 million state fund in March. The building is named after Myrtle V. Caudell who served as the director for vocational homemaking for 19 years.
 
1965 | Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD, currently NAD) established.
 
1969 | Human Development and Family Community Department formed.
 
1971 | The Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CPD), currently Dietitian Education Program (DEP), accredited as an undergraduate program. The CPD is the only Coordinated Program in the State University of New York system.

Program implementation is supported with a five-year grant from the Allied Health and Manpower Division, National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Buffalo State is one of six institutions of higher education nationally to develop such an educational endeavor. It is the first to utilize a variety of healthcare facilities within a community as key clinical sites for student learning.

Subsequent special improvement grants for the years 1975-1977 and 1977-1980 were obtained from NIH to support the ongoing development and evaluation of the program.
 
1973 | Nutrition and Food Service (NFS) Department formed.
 
1977 | Home Economics Department joins NFS.
 
1989 | Dr. Teja Rao assumes director responsibility of the NAD program.
 
1992 | Nutrition, Hospitality, and Fashion Department was formed.
 
1995 | Donna Hayes assumes director responsibility of the CPD program.
 
1996 | Alumni Ambassador Awards given to Mark LaMartina, vice president of Sorrento Food Service Inc.; Mark Wright, Transit Valley Country Club; and Rudi Rainer, general manager of the Buffalo Hilton.
 
1998 | The NFS department receives $244,000 Statler Minority Training grant for two years and a renewal grant for $245,000 for two additional years.
 
2000 | The NFS Department is reorganized to Nutrition and Dietetics and Hospitality and Tourism departments. The fashion and textile program is transferred to the Technology Department, becomes the Fashion and Textile Technology Department in 2004.
 
2001 | Nutrition Education and Counseling Center (NECC) established in the department. Two NECC program grants received from Tops Food Market and General Mills Corporation.

CPD students working in NECC publish work in peer-reviewed publication Topics in Clinical Nutrition, provide a poster presentation at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and win a national award for Best Poster Undergraduate Division, National Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness DPG of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Since 2004, eight CPD students completed Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships in the NECC.

Tina Colaizzo-Anas, PhD, RD-AP, CDN, CNSC, FAND, appointed as the American Dietetics Association representative to NIH’s Human Genetics Curricula Project.
 
2002 | CPD organizes an alumni reception in the Burchfield Penny Art Center to honor Martha Reddout, CPD’s first director, for her golden anniversary of dietetics practice.
 
2007 | Colaizzo-Anas is awarded the American Dietetics Association Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award for CPD programs (Area 7), the New York State Outstanding Dietetic Educator for CPD Programs, and the Western New York Outstanding Dietetics Educator for CPD Programs 
 
2009 and 2013 | Dr. Carol DeNysschen receives the Outstanding Dietetics Educator Awards through WNY Dietetics Association.
 
2014 | ACEND changes the name of the Coordinated Programs in Dietetics to the Dietitian Education Program (DEP). This name change is formally adopted by Buffalo State.

DEP design is built on the original concept of an integrated curriculum where the educational environment is expanded and coordinated to include additional hospitals, long-term care facilities, community agencies, private counseling firms, and other sites in which nutrition services are delivered.

The goal is to provide students with opportunities to apply knowledge and acquire skills necessary for an entry-level dietitian in a variety of settings. To accomplish this goal, there is a need for the coordination of didactic (classroom) learning and supervision and evaluation of student performance in supervised practice. A staff of clinical instructors and a director teach courses, plan, supervise, and evaluate the student-learning experiences.
 
2015 | Dietetics and Nutrition and Health and Wellness departments merge into Health, Nutrition and Dietetics (HND) Department. Under HND, Health and Wellness Program is housed in Houston Gym, whereas the Nutrition and Dietetics Program is located in Caudell Hall.

Dr. Carol DeNysschen receives the Buffalo State President’s Award for Excellence in Research.
 
2017 | Caudell Hall $21 million renovation completed (2014-2017) and opening ceremony held in February. Renovation includes the addition of a state-of-the-art foods production lab, new computer lab, smart classrooms, and a dedicated, faculty-designed space for the NECC.

Department Chair, Dr. Carol DeNysschen, awarded the Council of Food Service Associations Silver Medal.
 
2018 | The DEP celebrated its 20-year anniversary of conducting a student-led journal club and Buffalo General Hospital in which registered dietitians earn continuing education credit.
 
2019 | Tina Colaizzo-Anas, DEP Director, is selected for the WNY Dietetics Association Outstanding Dietetics Educator's Award and the WNYDA Council of Food Service Associations (CFSA) Silver Medal Award.
 
2020 | Over the last five years, DEP triples its affiliation agreements to increase the number of supervised practice sites in which students receive training. Examples include the FDA, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Washington, D.C., research settings at UB, sports nutrition settings (West Virginia University), Roswell Park Cancer Institute, dialysis centers, Loblaws (Toronto), Oishei Children’s, Wegmans, and neighborhood health centers.

2021 | ​​​​​​​ The Dietitian Education Program celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Prior to Fall 1994 | The purpose of the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Department was to teach service classes composed mostly of one-credit activity classes. In addition, two 3-credit health classes were offered, Personal and Community Health and Psychoactive Drugs. With encouragement from the dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences (SNSS), the current health and wellness program in the former Health and Wellness Department was created. 

Spring 1994 to Spring 2015 | During spring 1994, the first graduating class of the Health and Wellness Program included 15 students. In 1997, 32 students graduated from the program. The 2004 self-study report and the 2011 self-study report noted that enrollment of Health and Wellness majors was approximately 220 and 270, respectively.

Fall 2015 to Present | To strengthen the Health and Wellness program by improving academic resources, the Health and Wellness Department merged with another academic department from the SNSS to form the Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics (HND) Department.

This improved faculty resources as both departments have faculty with academic degrees in Health Education and Promotion, Exercise Science, Nutrition, and Community Health and Health Behavior.

The appointed chair is a registered dietitian, has an MPH degree, and a doctorate in Exercise Science. The HND also continues to have a collaborative relationship with the Institute for Community Health Promotion, which contributes three part-time faculty members with expertise in Community Health Promotion. Because of their work in community and public health promotion they are able to provide Health and Wellness majors with professional field experiences.

In 2016, the Coaching Minor moved into the HND Department with an updated curriculum and strong coaching instructors.

The Exercise Science minor was instituted in 2014, with an updated curriculum. The college is committed to building a quality Exercise Science program, as evidenced by their approval of a full-time tenure track faculty position. Dr. Leah Panek-Shirley was hired in fall 2016.