The Nutrition Education Grant at the University of Arizona is entering the third year of program development and has made substantial progress in the areas of curriculum reform and nutrition curriculum development, including innovative teaching methodologies, comprehensive objective development and educational materials development. Nutrition is not integrated throughout the four year curriculum in a comprehensive manner to assure that appropriate nutrition information is present at every point in the curriculum where nutrition is relevant. The current continuation application now focuses on the issues of program evaluation and sustainability, with three specific aims: 1) the establishment of a comprehensive evaluation system, including substantial outcome-based measures, 2) sustainability related to faculty teaching responsibilities and the development of a computer-based tracking system for all nutrition curricular activities and learning resources, and 3) curricular modifications to optimize nutrition education during the College of Medicine's Comprehensive Curriculum Analysis and Planning Project will be critical to the future of the nutrition curriculum.
