Food Nutrition & Dietetics

The Master of Science Degree or Master of Arts Degree in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences is designed for professionals seeking advanced study in one of the specialty areas of Family and Consumer Sciences:

The undergraduate and master’s level academic programs in Food, Nutrition and Dietetics (FND) in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Illinois State University are focused on dietetics and preparing graduates to become registered dietitians (R.D.s).

The undergraduate food, nutrition and dietetics option, a CADE-accredited didactic program in dietetics (DPD) program, provides the courses required to be eligible for a supervised practice program, commonly known as a dietetic internship (DI).

At the master’s level we offer an accredited combined, 21 month master’s degree and dietetic internship (M.S.-DI) program. Information about this specialized program is available at the Dietetic Internship website.

In addition, students are admitted to our master’s degree program to earn a master's degree while: 1) completing the DPD course requirements for a dietetic internship, or 2) further developing their professional skills. All 300 and 400 level courses in the department can be included in a master's degree plan of study and course descriptions are available in the Graduate Catalog.

We do not currently offer graduate degree options and research opportunities in other, more specialized areas of food and nutrition-related study such as nutritional sciences, nutritional genetics, nutritional toxicology, international nutrition, food science or food technology. Many of the land-grant universities specialize in these areas of study. A list of graduate programs in nutrition is available from the American Society for Nutrition and educational programs in food science and technology is available from the Institute of Food Technology.

The M.S.-DI Program at Illinois State University:

The Dietetic Internship at ISU is an accredited internship program that combines both the internship with a master’s degree. Completion of the master's degree is required to complete the dietetic internship and be eligible to take the R.D. exam. The combined M.S.-DI program at ISU participates in the D & D Digital matching process, the February application deadline, and begins in August. Additional information is available at the Dietetic Internship website. The master’s degree coursework includes the three departmental core courses, advanced courses in nutrition and medical nutrition therapy, two internship seminars, the three professional practice experience rotations in the Clinical, Community and Food service areas, and other elective course(s). Additional information about the master’s degree and courses is available in the Graduate Catalog. Interns have the option of either a 33 sem. hr thesis option or a 39 sem. hr non-thesis option, requiring additional academic coursework. A unique feature of our dietetic internship is that interns gain experiences from more than six different practice sites with a minimum of two in each of the professional practice areas of clinical, community and food service. This variety of experiences provides the opportunity for our interns to learn different systems and practice styles. This helps interns identify their preferred area of practice and establish their own approach to practice in their careers.

Students may choose one of the following degree program options:

33-semester-hour program which includes a thesis
39 semester hour program of course work

Students with a Previous Bachelor’s Degree Seeking to Become Eligible for Dietetic Internships:

Students with a related bachelor’s degree who meet the admission requirements can be admitted the the master's program to complete the DPD course requirements and become eligible for a dietetic internship. If you want to complete your required undergraduate DPD coursework at ISU you have three options for enrolling and taking the required DPD courses:

if you have a closely related bachelor’s degree, enroll as a graduate student-at-large;
enroll as an undergraduate student seeking a second degree in food, nutrition and dietetics (B.S. in Family and Consumer Sciences; Food, Nutrition and Dietetics option); or
enroll as a master’s degree student and count up to 21 semester hours of your DPD course requirements toward your master’s degree.

You do not want to choose option 3 if you are considering the ISU M.S.-DI program. Since our internship is a combined internship and master’s degree you must follow the 21-month M.S.- DI course sequence requirements and not have previously taken any of the required master’s course requirements of this program. Option 1 is recommended for students with a previous bachelor’s degree. Additional information about the master’s degree and courses is available in the Graduate Catalog. The following American Dietetic Association website provides additional information about career options in dietetics, steps to becoming a registered dietitian (R.D.) and the application process and acceptance procedure for internships.

Generally a student interested in becoming eligible for a dietetic internship with a life science-related bachelor’s degree can complete the required coursework in two years or possibly less time with up to 3 – 4 courses taken during their last fall and spring semesters and fewer courses during the first year. Students with a non-science degree will generally require two to three years because of course prerequisite requirements with one year for the general science courses and other possible deficiencies and then two years for the upper-level science and food, nutrition and dietetics related courses. Some of the lower level courses may be offered at local community colleges, upper level courses are generally only offered at four-year schools, while only accredited DPD programs, like ISU, offer the dietetics courses. If you have another degree, or prior degree or coursework from another school, Dr. Robert Cullen, the DPD Program Director, will evaluate your past courses to determine what classes you must take to complete the CADA Standards of Education requirements and be eligible to receive a Verification Statement of DPD Program Completion from ISU. Additional information about the DPD program and courses is available at our DPD program website and in the Undergraduate Catalog. An excellent source of information about dietetics careers, resources and education requirements to become a R.D. is available at the following American Dietetic Association website.

For detailed information about the process of becoming a Registered Dietitian check out the Food, Nutrition and Dietetics at ISU and Steps to Becoming a R.D. link.

The admission requirements to the master’s degree program in Family and Consumer Sciences include:

Minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in the last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework
The GRE exam with a preferred verbal score of 420
Three letters of recommendation
Statement of goals for seeking the degree

Our current faculty in the Food, Nutrition and Dietetics area have doctorate degrees from the following institutions.

Illinois State University, Ed.D.
University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Ph.D.

Additional information

For information about other Illinois State University graduate programs, visit the Graduate Program Web site.

For additional information about this program, you may contact:

Robert Cullen, Ph.D.
Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Campus Box 5060
Office: Turner 203F
Phone: (309) 438-8850
Fax: (309) 4388-5659
Email: