Her teenage students learned how to provide their young charges with healthy snacks and interesting lessons and field trips. With this alternative setting, I work hard on improving their self-esteem every day, trying to keep them in school. Merrilyn Cummings, a professor in the department, says jobs abound for well-trained family and consumer sciences teachers like Parker. Besides working in middle and high schools, graduates can teach at community colleges and in extension service offices. Cummings cites a recent study that indicates demand will be four times as great as the number of undergraduates preparing for family and consumer sciences education careers by the year 2000.
Jobs also are plentiful for students majoring in human nutrition and food science.
Graduates work in dietetics, sports nutrition, food safety and product development, says Ann Bock, a professor in the department. One graduate, Laura Duran, works as a dietitian at Bienvivir Senior Health Services, a day center for the elderly in El Paso, Texas. Duran is a dietitian at Bienvivir Senior Health Services of El Paso, Texas. Duran adds that the breadth of training she received in other family and consumer sciences areas has had an impact on her ability to evaluate and oversee the dietary needs of her 283 clients. I learned how to give presentations and keep audiences excited and motivated.