The world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.

a Publication for members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

In This Section

ACEND Quicklinks

About the Organization

ACEND is composed of a board of 15 members, a group of appointed peer reviewers, and staff members.

ACEND Board Members

The ACEND board is the governing unit of ACEND which grants final accreditation awards. As a decision making body of a federally-recognized accrediting agency, the board must include at least one educator, practitioner, and public member. In addition, at least one educator or practitioner member must have administrative experience as a program director in nutrition and dietetics. The ACEND board is currently designed to have at least 12 voting members: A chair, a vice chair, a past chair, at least one representative for each program type (Dietetic Technician, Didactic, Coordinated, and Dietetic Internship), at least one practitioner representative for each credential offered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (Dietetic Technician Registered and Registered Dietitian), at least one program administrator or representative of other stakeholders, one dietetics student, and one representative of the public.

2013-2014 Board

Chair

Anne Kendall, PhD, RD, LDN
Senior Lecturer
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Vice Chair

Merievelyn Stuber, MS, RD, CPPS, CPHQ
Patient Safety Officer/Quality
Methodist Hospitals
Gary, Indiana

Past ACEND Chair/ACEND Representative to the Academy House of Delegates

Elaine Fontenot Molaison, PhD, RD
Associate Professor and Director, Dietetic Internship
The University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Dietetic Technician Program (DT) Representative

Lauri Y. Wright, PhD, RD, LD
Assistant Professor of Nutrition
University of South Florida, College of Public Health
Tampa, Florida

Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) Representatives

Jamie M. Erskine, PhD, RD
Professor and Program Coordinator, Dietetics Program
University of Northern Colorado
Greeley, Colorado

Betty J. Larson, EdD, RD, LRD, FADA
Director, Didactic Program and Professor
Concordia College
Moorhead, Minnesota

Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) Representative-elect

Suzanne M. Leson, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Coordinated Program
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, Ohio

Dietetic Internship (DI) Program Representatives

Teri L. Burgess-Champoux, PhD, RD, LD
Assistant Professor, Department of Family, Consumer and Nutritional Sciences
St. Catherine University
St. Paul, Minnesota

Sharon K. Schwartz, MS, RD, LDN
Coordinator
Sodexo Distance Education Dietetic Internship
Raleigh, North Carolina

Dietetic Internship (DI) Program Representative-elect

Wanda Eastman, PhD, RD, LD
Director
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CP) Representative

Kay N. Wolf, PhD, RD, LD
Director, Coordinated Program and Associate Professor, Medical Dietetics Division
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CP)
Representative-elect

Doris J. Wang, MPH, RD, LD
Instructor
Univeersity of North Dakota
Grand Forks, North Dakota

Practitioner Representatives

Pascale C. Jean, MPH, RD, LD/N
Health Promotion and Wellness Consultant
Cigna Healthcare
Miami, Florida
Amelia Larkin, MS, DTR
Long Term Care Consultant
Miami, Florida

Program Representative-at-Large

Shyamala Ganesh, MS, RD, LD
Director, Dietetic Internship
University of Minnesota Medical Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Maxine C. McElligott, MA, RD, LMNT, CDE
Diabetes Education Coordinator
The University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, Nebraska

ACEND Student Representative

Megan R. Barnes
Graduate Student, Coordinated Program
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana

ACEND Student Representative-elect to the Student Council Advisory Committee

Emily Palczewski
Student, Didactic Program
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan

Program Administrator

Hugh W. Bonner, PhD, FASAHP
Dean and Professor
State University of New York, Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, New York

Public Member

Joan Straumanis, PhD
Retired Program Director
National Science Foundation
Arlington, Virginia

QUICK LINKS
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation is the world's largest charitable organization (501c3) focused on food, nutrition and dietetics. Academy Foundation is dedicated to working with the Registered Dietitian to help kids and their families eat right.
Participate in the only political action committee broadly focused on food, nutrition and health. If dietetics is your profession, politics is your business!
Through accreditation of more than 600 undergraduate and graduate didactic, dietetic technician and supervised practice programs, the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics ensures entry-level education meets quality standards.
The Commission on Dietetic Registration awards credentials to individuals at entry and specialty levels who have met CDR's standards for competency to practice in the dietetics profession.