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Distinguished Professor: Kendra Kattelmann, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor is the institution’s highest level of scholarly distinction granted to a faculty member. Those who earn the designation “Distinguished Professor” are models of professional accomplishment, who, in addition to this accomplishment, demonstrate good character, professional integrity and exemplary citizenship within the university community.

Kattelmann has been a member of the faculty at South ��ֱ���� State University since 1997. Kattelmann’s funded grants combined with her numerous published peer-reviewed research articles, abstracts and presentations place her at an outstanding level of productivity for the level of infrastructure research support at SDSU. She has collaboratively garnered more than $13 million in competitive funding for the pursuit of scholarly activity. The focus of her translational research is the promotion of healthful behavior to prevent excessive weight gain and chronic disease. Behavior change is difficult, and model interventions that are evidence-based and grounded in research are needed to tackle this problem. Focusing on the problem of behavior change, Kattelmann has led research collaborations, such as her multistate research group for U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture/National Research Initiative integrated grant (approximately $1.5 million), to develop a theory-based, web-delivered intervention to prevent excessive weight gain in young adults.

Kattelmann is a leader in her profession. She has provided leadership for university, state and national initiatives to promote and benefit the profession of nutrition and dietetics. In 2014, Kattelmann was elected to serve as the president for the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, a highly respected national organization of nutrition educators and has also served extensively in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Kattelmann has been elected twice to serve in the House of Delegates, first as the professional delegate for dietetics education, and currently as the delegate for the council for nutrition and dietetic educators of practitioners. Locally, Kattelmann has provided leadership by serving as the secretary and the president of the South ��ֱ���� Association of Nutrition and Dietetics. She also serves as a member of the Licensure Nutritionist Advisory Committee to the State Board of Osteopathic and Medical Examiners.

Kattelmann has been instrumental in maintaining the standards of SDSU’s accredited dietetics program. The pass rate for students taking the registered dietitian nutritionist exam within the first year of is 96% in comparison to the national pass rate of 76%. Graduates from the program continue to excel and are in positions of management and leadership. Alumni from the program have reported receiving awards of national distinction. Kattelmann also assisted in developing an exchange program with China Medical University to provide students with international experiences in dietetics and nutrition with students from Taiwan. Kattelmann supports the nutrition and dietetics profession by mentoring graduate students, particularly those who are pursing the registered dietitian nutritionist credential. She is increasingly sought after by students to serve as their graduate advisor. Kattelmann has advised 47 (24 in the last five years) master's-level professional dietetics students and one Ph.D. student to graduation. This has significant impact on the dietetics workforce in South ��ֱ����. Kattelmann’s performance has been stellar in research, teaching and professional service. She has been able to balance the expectations for all the requirements and be a consistently outstanding performer.