ECU faculty member to lead American Dietetic Association in 2011
Sylvia Escott-Stump
GREENVILLE, NC — East Carolina University faculty member Sylvia Escott-Stump has been voted president-elect of the American Dietetic Association, the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.
Escott-Stump, who is dietetic program director for the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, will serve a one-year term as the ADA’s 86th president beginning June 1, 2011. She will chair the organization’s board of directors, which is responsible for strategic planning, policy development and fiscal management for the 71,000-member association.
“The dietetics profession affects every citizen,” said Escott-Stump. “Registered dietitians must provide the leadership, guidance and direction to impact health for all people of ages, all stages of well-being and all food decisions. We have an amazing window of opportunity right now that cannot be missed.”
Escott-Stump said her goal as both an educator and an ADA leader is “to inspire registered dietitians to dream big, to learn more, and to motivate everyone within their sphere of influence.”
She added, “Nutritional health is so important. Just as individuals have their own doctor and dentist, everyone should have his or her own registered dietitian.”
Her areas of special expertise include cultural competency, elderly nutrition, functional foods and phytochemicals, nutritional assessment, and nutrition and genetics.
Escott-Stump has presented hundreds of lectures and workshops and has written articles in many peer-reviewed journals, editions of “Nutrition and Diagnosis-Related Care” and editions of Krause’s “Food and Nutrition Therapy,” a text used in many college-level nutrition programs.
She is a past chair of ADA’s Nominating Committee and Speaker of the House of Delegates. As a mentor and inspiration to entry-level professionals, Escott-Stump was the first recipient of ADA’s Margene Wagstaff Fellowship for Innovation in Dietetics Education in 2007. She has also received the ADA’s Medallion Award, Member of the Year for North Carolina Dietetic Association, and Distinguished Dietitian of Pennsylvania.
Escott-Stump earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which recognized her with a Distinguished Alumni Award.