Human Environmental Sciences
Laura S. Sims. PhD, MPH, RD
Dr. Laura Sims has served as the Dean of the School of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro since August 2000.
Before coming to UNCG, she was a Professor of Human Nutrition and Affiliate Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she also served as Dean of the College of Human Ecology from 1988 to 1992. From 1986 to 1988, she was Administrator of the Human Nutrition Information Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before joining USDA, Dr. Sims was at Penn State University for 10 years where she moved through the faculty ranks to become Professor of Nutrition in Public Health. During the 1998-99 academic year, she was on sabbatical leave as Visiting Scholar at Tufts University's Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy.
Dr. Sims holds a PhD in Nutrition from Michigan State University, an MPH (Master of Public Health) in Nutrition (with specialization in Maternal and Child Health) from the University of Michigan, and a BS ("With Highest Distinction") in Nutrition and Family Studies from The Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Sims has received a number of honors and awards, including being named to the founding class of W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellows and a 1992 Kellogg Leadership Fellow at the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, Resources for the Future. She served as President of the Society for Nutrition Education for the 1997-98 term and as Editor for the Journal of Nutrition Education from 1985-1988, and again as Interim Editor in 1995-96. Dr. Sims, a Registered Dietitian, was the Chair of the Council on Research for the American Dietetic Association from 1987-1990, and by virtue of this elected position, served on the Boards of Directors for the American Dietetic Association and its Foundation. She was named Outstanding Alumna of 1983 by the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University and was named one of that university's College of Human Ecology's Centennial Award winners in 1996. From 1990 to 1998, she served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Christian Children's Fund, Inc. and from 1993 to 1996 was an appointed member of the Montgomery County (MD) Commission on Health.
Dr. Sims is the author of The Politics of Fat: Food and Nutrition Policy in America (1998, M.E. Sharpe), in addition to three other books and over 60 scholarly research publications. She has a record of outstanding service to national advisory boards and task forces, including the Institute of Medicine/Food and Nutrition Board's 1989-90 Committee on "Nutrition Components of Food Labeling" and the 1991 Committee on "State Food Labeling." She has been Scientific Advisor to the Food, Nutrition and Safety Committee of ILSI-NF, a member of USDA's Human Nutrition Board of Scientific Counselors, and the LSRO/FASEB Review Panel for the 1990 National Nutrition Objectives. Dr. Sims has served as a member of a number of NIH review panels and as a consultant to USDA's assessment of the nutrition education component of the WIC program. Dr. Sims has been Principal Investigator for several research projects, including the "National Assessment of Extension's Food and Nutrition Programs," and served as co-PI for the NSF-funded project, "Implementing Consumer Right-to-Know Provisions of the Food Quality Protection Act," with faculty in the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Sims' major scholarly and research interests focus on the study of domestic nutrition policy, effectiveness of public nutrition information strategies, psychosocial influences on food consumption behavior, and issues dealing with community nutrition program delivery and evaluation.
Page updated: 27-Aug-2006
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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