Nutrition & Food Systems, MSNFS

The MS program in Nutrition and Food Systems prepares students for a wide variety of careers, including in health care facilities and private practice, as well as community, education, government, industry, and non-profit settings. A student may choose Plan A – Thesis or Plan B – Evidence-based practice project option. Plan A is only available to students completing the in-person program. Students completing the fully online program, as well as students completing the Accelerated Coordinated Program in Dietetics (ACP in Dietetics), complete Plan B.

Students pursuing the MS in Nutrition and Food Systems complete 15 credit hours of core course work emphasizing contemporary nutrition topics such as food systems, global foods, diet and culture, food-related behaviors, chronic disease diagnosis and process related to lifestyle behaviors, and evidence-based practice. In addition, Plan A requires STA 674, 6 credit hours of guided electives and 6 credit hours of research credit (DHN 768) as well as a written thesis and oral defense.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the Traditional MS Concentration Area requires the following:

Personal Statement (This document should be one or two pages and can include your background, your preparation and your purpose for going to graduate school, and your career goals).
Writing Sample (This can be a paper you have written for a previous class or for publication.)
Three letters of recommendation.

Admission to the University of Kentucky Accelerated Coordinated Program in Dietetics (ACP) is selective and competitive; students are expected to maintain a rigorous schedule in order to complete all required courses for the undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as the hours for the supervised practice within 10 semesters and three summer sessions. The ACP Concentration Area of the MS in Nutrition and Food Systems will only be available to students who were admitted to the ACP program (Option B of BS in Dietetics) during Year 3 in the University of Kentucky BS in Dietetics program. Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 to apply. The application will include a personal statement, three letters of recommendation, and an interview. As such, this program is only available to University of Kentucky students. Students from other colleges and universities can apply for, and be admitted into, the UK MS in Nutrition and Food Systems, but only for the “Traditional MS Concentration Area.”

Core Courses

Students in both Plan A and Plan B complete 15 credit hours of course work:

Core Course hours: 15

Guided Electives

Plan A

STA 674 - Regression Analysis and Design of Experiments
DHN 768 - Residence Credit for the Master’s Degree *
plus 6 credit hours of guided electives at the 500+ level

*Plan A (thesis option) requires 6 credit hours of Resident Credit for Master’s Degree, written thesis and oral defense

Plan B

Students in Plan B, but not in the ACP in Dietetics, complete the following. The evidenced-based practice capstone project is completed in the guided elective course, DHN 782.

DHN 782 - Special Problems in Nutrition and Food Systems
9 credit hours of guided electives at the 500+ level
3 credit hours of guided electives at the 600+ level*

*One of the Plan B electives needs to be at the 600-level or above to meet the graduate school’s policy of at least two-thirds of the minimum requirements for the master’s or specialist degree must be in regular courses, and at least half of the minimum course requirements (excluding thesis, practicum, or internship credit) must be in 600- or 700-level courses.

Plan B – Accelerated Coordinated Program

Students in Plan B completing the Accelerated Coordinated Program in Dietetics complete 15 credit hours of guided electives consisting of supervised practice program course work as follows. The evidenced-based practice capstone project is completed as a component of DHN 728.