Raised on a farm in Wellsville, Anderson helped her father raise animals and harvest crops. It was this experience, along with helping her grandmother prepare food for residents in a nursing home, that she found her interest in feeding and nourishing people. She followed her interests to USU, where she received both her undergraduate and master’s from the dietetics program.
Anderson has worked at USU as a clinical professor in dietetics and received national recognition for both her teaching and research. Anderson was presented the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Agricultural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award in 2007. According to the USDA Web site, she received the award for excelling at teaching, making a positive impact on student learning and influencing other teachers by example. Her most prestigious award, she said, comes from the USU Robin’s Awards, where she received the Eldon J. Gardner Award Teacher of the Year in 2006.
In 2000, Anderson was featured on the “Today Show” and “Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer” for her research on consumer food safety.
Although Anderson’s current dietetic research is focused on increasing vegetables consumption among college students, she also researches student behavior to enhance recruitment and retention.
“We’re putting a lot of effort into conducting research to understand how students make college-based decisions,” she said. “We recognize 30 percent of students at USU do not stay and complete their degree.”
Recognizing this problem, Anderson has worked to enhance student retention during planning for the new Student Services Center, which will be open this academic year for all students within the College of Agriculture or those who are considering transferring. Current advising is spread through four buildings, two of which are on the outskirts of campus.
“When the center is complete, it will provide scholarship, internship and career advising at a centralized location to help students succeed,” she said.
Since becoming associate dean, Anderson and her colleagues are working to improve the college’s recruitment efforts with the creation of the “Discover the Ag Advantage” campaign.
“Agriculture touches everyone’s lives everyday,” Anderson said. “As a society we will always need people to solve the tough questions and problems that will arise in the future.”
For this reason, Anderson said, the college’s recruitment efforts, which are teamed with Student Ambassadors and the USU Recruitment Office, are focused on science-minded students interested in agriculture.
As an associate dean, professor, researcher and adviser, one would wonder how Anderson has time for family life. Married with two teenage boys, Anderson isn’t always in her office but on the sidelines of her sons’ ball games, who are currently playing football but also play lacrosse, basketball and baseball. During the winter the Anderson family spends every weekend skiing at Beaver Mountain.
Anderson graduated from USU’s College of Agriculture and has continued to work at the college for the past 20 years.
– courtney.rhodes@aggiemail.usu.edu