School of Public Health and Health Sciences

Cohen Appointed Interim Dean of SPHHS

 

Professor Nancy Cohen, head of the Nutrition Department, has been named interim dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.  

The appointment is effective Sept. 1, according to Charlena Seymour, provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

“Dean Cohen will lead the school during the upcoming academic year while a national search for a permanent dean is conducted,” Seymour said.

“I am pleased to serve the School over the next year,” says Cohen. “The School is undergoing a renewal, and has many exciting new research, teaching, and outreach initiatives underway to help improve the public’s health and quality of life.”

Cohen joined UMass as an assistant professor in 1985, and served as chair of the UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program until 1997.  She has led the Nutrition Department since 1998, overseeing the growth of annual research funding in the department from $132,000 in 1998 to over $2.1 million in 2006.

Cohen’s research addresses community nutrition, assessment of dietary intake and food-related practices and attitudes, evaluation of nutrition and food safety education, and online education. Her research has been supported by over $2 million in grants from the US Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, Massachusetts Department of Education, and AARP.

An author of more than 80 research and extension publications, Cohen is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Nutrition Education (SNE) and Massachusetts Dietetic Association, and past chair of the Nutrition Education Research Interest Section of the American Society for Nutrition. She currently serves on the Public Information Committee of the American Society for Nutrition and is a Science Communicator and member of the Career Education Committee of the Institute of Food Technologists, as well as an active member of the American Dietetic Association.

In 2005, Cohen received the UMass President’s Award for Public Service, and was a recipient of the UMass-Amherst Distinguished Academic Outreach Award in 2003.

Cohen holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University in nutritional sciences, and a Ph.D. in nutrition science from the University of California at Davis. 

Cohen succeeds John Cunningham, who served as interim dean last year and is returning to his duties as deputy provost as of Sept. 1.

"I am grateful to him for serving as interim dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences over the past year and for his successful leadership during the reaccreditation of the school,” said Seymour.