The Department and Faculty promote the following philosophies as a means of effectively providing advanced education in the area of nutritional sciences:
- It is the student's responsibility to ultimately define the educational needs and experiences desired as an outcome of graduation; hence the student must assume both initiative and responsibility for learning and must do so in a less-directed manner than is typically available at the undergraduate level;
- Faculty is present to guide the dedicated student in pursuit of knowledge and to open doors and avenues along which the student may travel;
- Faculty and students must share an obligation to achieve greater knowledge in nutritional sciences and to present such to the scholarly community;
- Faculty ascribe to providing individualized learning experiences to meet the needs of students seeking to attain advanced education in nutritional sciences;
- While any advanced degree implies a research degree, a non-thesis track is available to those students seeking advanced education without a written thesis component; however, even in the non-thesis track, the student must master the basic knowledge and skills involved in scientific inquiry;
- Faculty are interested in assisting students who are having difficulty maintaining program standards and will aid the student upon solicitation; and
- Ethical behavior is an absolute prerequisite for student and faculty action and attitude.
