Program Overview

Program Overview

The Dietetics and Integrative Medicine Graduate Certificate program is designed to provide working professionals or graduate students with the knowledge to function as skilled advisors to patients and collaborative members of interprofessional healthcare teams. This online program explores a personalized approach to prevention and treatment of chronic disease, embracing conventional and complementary therapies.

Program Description

The program reaffirms the importance of the therapeutic relationship, focusing on the whole person, lifestyle, biochemical individuality, and environmental influences. It consists of 12 credit hours, delivered as web-based courses, allowing for great flexibility. The program is administered by the KU Department of Dietetics and Nutrition.

Admission Requirements

• A bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution is required, with official transcripts indicating the degree has been conferred before entering the program.
• Students with degrees from outside the U.S. require transcript evaluation indicating the degree is equivalent to a U.S. degree and meets the minimum cumulative grade-point average requirement.
• A cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in the bachelor's degree program is required.
• Applicants who are not native speakers of English must demonstrate they meet the minimum English proficiency requirement.
• Students must possess the registered dietitian credential (or other healthcare professional certification) and/or be enrolled in a health professions degree program at the graduate level at the time of application.
• A résumé or curriculum vitae is required, including prior employment, participation in professional and/or voluntary organizations.
• A statement of career goals must be submitted with the application or included in the résumé document.
• Three references are required, from faculty, advisors, employers, or others familiar with the applicant's work and character.

Certificate Requirements

• Certificate requirements are normally completed within one year of admission to the program, although a maximum of four years is allowed.
• A cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 for all KU graduate certificate coursework is required.
• Enrollment in a minimum of one credit hour the semester the program is completed is required.
• Successful completion of a minimum of 12 credit hours is required.
• Successful completion of the following courses:
  • DN 880: Dietary and Herbal Supplements (3 hours)
  • DN 881: Introduction to Dietetics and Integrative Medicine (3 hours)
  • DN 882: A Nutrition Approach to Inflammation and Immune Regulation (3 hours)
  • DN 980: Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics in Health and Disease (3 hours)

Typical Plan of Study

The program may be started in the fall, spring, or summer semester, with one course offered per semester. A typical plan of study for a summer semester start is:

• Year 1:
  • Summer: DN 880 (3 hours)
  • Fall: DN 881 (3 hours)
  • Spring: DN 882 (3 hours)
• Year 2:
  • Summer: DN 980 (3 hours)

Accommodations and Requirements

Reasonable accommodation will be considered and may be made to qualified students who disclose a disability, as long as such accommodation does not significantly alter the essential requirements of the curriculum and the training program, or significantly affect the safety of patient care. Students who disclose that they have a disability are considered for the program if they are otherwise qualified.

Professional and Technical Standards

All students admitted to the Dietetics and Integrative Medicine Certificate program must be able to meet the following requirements and expectations with or without an accommodation:

• Observe: Students must be able to acquire information as presented through lectures, demonstrations, research, and practice situations in the practice and research of health sciences.
• Communicate: Students must have the ability to use multiple communication techniques (oral, written, nonverbal) to enable communication with clients, teachers, health providers, and faculty.
• Ethical Standards: Candidates must demonstrate professional attitudes and behaviors and must perform in an ethical manner in dealing with others.
• Psychomotor: Students must have sufficient motor capacities and motilities to execute various tasks and physical maneuvers.
• Intellectual and Cognitive Abilities: Students must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, synthesize, integrate, and remember to apply information.
• Professional and Social Attributes: Students must exercise good judgment and promptly complete all responsibilities required of the program. They must develop mature, sensitive, and effective professional relationships with others.