A ‘valuable resource’ on campus, Kaiti George fuels student success in growing UNK nutrition program

KEARNEY – There’s a saying Kaiti George likes to use.

“For every disease, there’s a nutrition prescription.”

As a registered dietitian and licensed medical nutrition therapist, George recognizes the important role diet plays in our overall health and the impact it can have on chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

“Nutrition is important in every life stage,” she says. “It’s directly correlated with how we feel. As a registered dietitian, I want to help people be healthier, feel better and live longer.”

George chose her career path at age 16 and never regretted the decision. She’s served her hometown of Kearney since 2003, earning honors such as the Nebraska Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year and Good Samaritan Hospital Healthy Community Education Award.

“This career has given me more opportunities than I ever could have imagined,” George said. “I love it. I’m incredibly passionate about nutrition and dietetics and the positive impact it can have on people’s lives.”

For the past three years, George has shared her passion with students at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she’s a lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences.

The number of students pursuing a nutrition minor – currently 60 – has doubled since she joined the UNK faculty. These students are typically health science or exercise science majors looking to learn more about proper nutrition and the benefits it brings to athletic performance, personal training and patient care.

George also revived the pre-dietetics program on campus, creating a pathway for students specifically interested in becoming registered dietitians.

HANDS-ON PROGRAM

Hannah Harrison is a senior studying exercise science with minors in nutrition and health science. She’s also part of the UNK pre-dietetics program.

The Gothenburg High School graduate was introduced to the profession during a nutrition class, then she met Danielle Moran, a registered dietitian and UNK alumna, through an exercise science course.

At the time, Harrison was struggling with her own nutrition as she balanced her commitments as a college student and an athlete on the UNK track and field team.

“The information she gave me about nutrition really made a huge impact on my training and my performances,” Harrison said of Moran. “That personal experience was my inspiration to help others.”

Like George, she views nutrition and healthy eating as a prescription for a better life.

“We eat every day, so it’s important to build nutrition habits that help us feel our best,” Harrison said. “Nutrition is medicine, and I think that’s underappreciated. We can help alleviate some of the top chronic conditions simply by changing how we eat.”

The UNK nutrition minor and pre-dietetics program combine coursework with hands-on learning opportunities to prepare students for these careers.

Harrison has presented nutrition information at Horizon Middle School and during classes for UNK freshmen and sophomores. She’s also part of the staff for Loper Performance, a youth sports training and research program within the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, and she volunteered at Camp Floyd Rogers, a weeklong summer camp near Cozad for youths living with diabetes.

As part of her internship, she worked with George and fellow nutrition students to develop and publish the Loper Sports Nutrition online cookbook, a website that features recipes and healthy eating tips for athletes.

“UNK does a really great job of giving students hands-on experiences,” Harrison said. “I’m taking blood pressures. I’m doing body composition tests. Those are both things that I will be doing as a registered dietitian. I’ve had several different classes where I’ve been paired with a community member or faculty member to actually go through the process of what it would be like to sit down and have an appointment.”

In addition to those activities, students have the opportunity to partner with community organizations and businesses. For instance, they host cooking classes for area kids and recently organized a health fair at the local Hy-Vee.

“These are all ways to showcase what their future careers will look like,” said George, who also serves as the sports dietitian for UNK Athletics.

Harrison called her a “valuable resource” on campus.

“I’ve learned so much from Kaiti,” she said. “She’s made me even more excited about becoming a registered dietitian.”

UNMC PARTNERSHIP

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of dietitians and nutritionists is projected to increase by 7% from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations. These professionals work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, schools, research facilities, food service management, public health agencies, sports nutrition programs and corporate wellness.

“It’s definitely a growing field,” George said. “Much like other health care professions, the need for more dietitians is great, especially in rural Nebraska.”

At the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where George received her professional training, 100% of students who graduate from the Master of Medical Nutrition program find careers within a year.

This success led to the program’s expansion to Kearney.

Currently, two students are part of a “soft launch” initiated last fall on the UNK campus and they’re “already being sought out by their preceptors,” according to George. “They will have a 0.0% chance of not getting a job,” she said.

Another five students will join them this fall as part of the program’s first full class in Kearney.

Offered by UNMC at the Health Science Education Complex on the UNK campus, the accelerated master’s program includes 50 credit hours of coursework and more than 1,500 hours of supervised learning experiences completed over four semesters – fall, spring, summer, fall. Upon completion, graduates are ready to take the national registration examination for dietitians and, hopefully, begin their careers in central and western Nebraska.

“It’s great to be able to bring students on campus when they’re freshmen, or even seniors in high school, and let them know that you can start your pre-dietetics program at UNK and finish your training at UNMC in Kearney,” said George, who was instrumental in the medical center partnership. “We want to show students what nutrition looks like in a rural setting and introduce them to all the opportunities available here.”

Harrison is among the UNK students who will start the UNMC medical nutrition program in Kearney this fall. She plans to remain in Nebraska to serve the state as a registered dietitian.

“This is such a great opportunity to keep some of our health care students in central Nebraska,” Harrison said. “Where you take classes, where you do your rotations, that’s where you’re going to be offered jobs.”

The Master of Medical Nutrition program will move to the $95 million Rural Health Education Building when that facility opens on the UNK campus in early 2026. George will assist with the graduate program while continuing to teach at UNK.

“I am privileged to get to teach these amazing students in their undergraduate program and then see them find their niche in the graduate program as they progress through the multiple clinical rotations,” she said. “Honestly, this is the job I dreamed of as a college student.”