UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences is offering a new minor in Sports Nutrition, designed for students who want to understand how nutrition-informed approaches can benefit athletes and others who are physically active in their lives and careers.
The Sports Nutrition minor provides a strong foundation in how nutrition impacts performance and will complement the academic studies of students pursuing a variety of professions, including kinesiology, athletic training, coaching and sports dietetics. The minor can also be beneficial for those seeking careers in the military and emergency services.
Nutritional Sciences partnered with Penn State Athletics' Performance Nutrition department to offer students experiential learning opportunities to enhance students’ experiences in the classroom.
“Many students have experience as high school athletes, and others have personal or professional interests in sports and performance,” said Meg Bruening, professor and head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences. “This minor provides the background for them to understand the role of nutrition in athletic and physical performance and will merge with their interests in these areas to benefit their future careers or even their personal pursuits in athletics.”
Sports Nutrition is the third minor offered by the Department of Nutritional Sciences, offering students the ability to gain insights into how nutrition impacts human health and performance. This minor requires students to complete 18 credits and consists of courses in nutritional sciences, hospitality management and kinesiology.
All three minor programs — Sports Nutrition, Nutrition Studies and Nutritional Sciences — allow students to specialize their studies based on their individual academic and personal goals.
“Nutritional sciences is a cross-cutting field with many disciplines,” Bruening said. “We developed three different minors to help serve students who want to stand out in their field with an additional expertise in nutrition. All of our minors will help prepare students from many majors across the University to understand nutrition principles and how they can apply them to their desired career.”
Students interested in learning more about the new minor should visit the Sports Nutrition program page and contact Nicole Hastings, academic adviser in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, to see how this program may benefit their career path.