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Institute of Child Nutrition

External links

• https://theicn.org
• https://vimeo.com/theicn

Introduction

The Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) (formerly known as the National Food Service Management Institute or NFSMI) was established in 1989 to conduct applied research, provide training and technical assistance, develop training materials, and act as a clearinghouse of information for professionals in the federally assisted child nutrition programs under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. The Institute of Child Nutrition, within the School of Applied Sciences, is the only federally funded national center dedicated to applied research, education and training, and technical assistance related to the operation and management of federally funded child nutrition programs. ICN, permanently authorized by Congress under Section 21 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, is funded by a grant administered through the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The Institute is comprised of four divisions: Administration, Applied Research Division (ARD), Education and Training, and Information Services. The Applied Research Division operates through a sub-contract to the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

Vision, Mission, and Goals

ICN's vision is to "lead the nation in providing research, education, and resources to promote excellence in child nutrition programs." The mission is to "provide relevant research-based information and services that advance the continuous improvement of child nutrition programs." ICN's 2018-2021 Strategic Plan consist of the following six beacons which govern ICN's activities over the next few years:

1. Promotion, Communication, and Outreach — expand ICN brand awareness and outreach through various marketing communication channels
2. Excellent, Diverse, and Accessible Resources and Training — develop and provide customer-focused, research-based resources and trainings that incorporate appropriate technology to support and maintain highly skilled child nutrition professionals at all levels
3. Leader in Child Nutrition Program Operations Research — conduct and disseminate high-quality, credible research that is responsive to the needs of child nutrition professionals
4. Sustainability —support the professional growth and development of current and future child nutrition professionals, preserve the history of child nutrition, and position ICN to continue its mission
5. Collaboration — collaborate with internal and external stakeholders whose missions and visions align with ICN
6. Stewardship — support the ICN mission by fulfilling obligations to internal and external stakeholders, utilizing assets (financial, human, information, and physical) efficiently and effectively, and creating an environment of trust that encourages all stakeholders to actively contribute to the overall excellence of ICN

Key Highlights

• ICN received $6,837,430 in a Grant and several Cooperative Agreements through the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service.
• ICN provided 485 face-to-face trainings to 17,927 child nutrition professionals in 44 states and the US territories of the American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands.
• ICN hosted the 9^th annual Major Cities Training Symposium in Tampa, FL and the inaugural Native American Advisory Committee Meeting.
• ICN developed and disseminated over 16,000 Summer Meals Food Safety Kits nationwide.
• ICN hired a full-time Chef to oversee the new Culinary Institute of Child Nutrition national training initiative.
• ICN’s ARD manuscript’s “Marketing Mechanisms Used for Summer Food Services Programs” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing.
• ICN (formerly known as the National Food Service Management Institute) continues to celebrate its 30^th anniversary throughout 2019.

Key Personnel Changes

ICN collaborated with the School of Applied Sciences to hire a Post-Doctoral Research Associate/Data Analyst to assist with the oversight and management of ICN’s data. Additionally, ICN hired a full-time Chef/Associate Director of Culinary Education and Training (newly created position), two Education and Training Specialists (refilled positions), an Administrative Coordinator (refilled position), an Accounting Assistant (refilled position), and a Program Assistant (refilled position) on the University of Mississippi campus. During this reporting period, ICN also provided Graduate Assistantships to four Masters Students and four Doctoral students, and employed 12–14 student workers.

Important Accomplishments

ICN received $5,000,000 from USDA for its annual staffing and administration grant to support the operations of the Institute. Additionally, ICN received $1,516,930 from USDA through a General Education Cooperative Agreement along with $320,500 of additional funds in an existing Food Safety Cooperative Agreement for a grand total of funding for the FY 2018–2019 fiscal year of $6,837,430. ICN provided financial and compliance oversight of four federal grants and nine federal cooperative agreements, oversaw the closeout of three awards, processed and submitted three new proposals through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), and handled 733 contracts/agreements for consultants and participants involved in ICN projects/activities. ICN held 27 professional seminars, classes, task force meetings, and demonstrations and conducted 30 webinars reaching 5,287 participants.

ICN provided 485 face-to-face trainings to 17,927 participants in 44 states and US territories—American Samoa and US Virgin Islands. ICN reached over 7,050 people at 13 local, state, and national conferences.

ICN hosted the 9^th annual Major Cities Training Symposium in Tampa, FL, in which districts from the nation’s largest schools convened to discuss workforce development and succession planning with senior level USDA officials. ICN also hosted the inaugural Native American Advisory Committee Meeting that convened national experts to provide guidance and recommendations on how to develop culturally appropriate trainings and resources.

ICN staff and UM Office of Outreach collaborated to coordinate and host the annual USDA State Agency Meeting in Crystal City, VA, on December 3–6, 2018. Over 275 State agency representatives and approximately 80 USDA staff participated in the event.

In partnership with the USDA Office of Food Safety (OFS) and Kansas State’s Center for Food Safety Research, ICN created a Summer Meals Food Safety Kit for summer feeding sites. Due to demand, OFS provided additional funding for ICN to continue the kits for summer 2019. ICN disseminated over 16,000 kits to State agencies, US territories, and regional offices and created a short online course to provide State agencies another training modality.

ICN’s Help Desk received 9,631 contacts from all 50 states and US territories of Puerto Rico and American Samoa. ICN’s eLearning portal launched two revised and four new online courses for a total catalog of 55 online courses. Currently, ICN has 56,251 registered users who access the eLearning portal.    

ICN’s Child Nutrition Archives’ mission is to collect, preserve, and make available materials related to the establishment, history, development, and implementation of the federally assisted child nutrition programs. Highlights include approximately 108 manuscript collections, 248 oral histories, 28 photographic collections containing approximately 3,000 images, and 504 items in the small manuscripts collection, in addition to other donations.

The Applied Research Division (ARD) completed two research projects: Evaluate Application of ICN Training in School Nutrition Operations and Competencies, Knowledge, and Skills Needed for School Nutrition Managers in the 21st Century – Phase II. The ARD manuscript “Marketing Mechanisms Used for Summer Food Services Programs” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing. ARD is in the process of conducting six research projects. ARD staff collaborated with ICN UM staff presenting or participating at 13 national conferences.

History

The Institute of Child Nutrition was established as the National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) in the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 1989, signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 10, 1989.

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 1989 (Public Law 101-147. H.R.24 - Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 1989. 11/10/1989) amended the National School Lunch Act to authorize the establishment of the Food Service Management Institute for a five-year period. Initial funding was appropriated in fiscal year 1990 budget to establish the Institute at the University of Mississippi through a cooperative agreement with USDA Food and Consumer Service. Appropriations were authorized for FY 1990 through 1994. The legislation was later amended to provide that the Institute would be operated in cooperation with the University of Southern Mississippi.

SEC. 109. TRAINING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND FOOD SERVICE MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE.

The National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section: (42 u s e 1769b-l).

"SEC 21. TRAINING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. AND FOOD SERVICE MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE.

The main purposes of the Institute were:

• To conduct applied research,
• To provide training and technical assistance,
• To establish a national network of trainers,
• To develop training materials, and
• To act as a clearinghouse for research, studies, and findings concerning all aspects of the operation of food service programs.

The ICN at the University of Mississippi

The headquarters of the Institute was established at the University Of Mississippi, with the Applied Research Division located at the University of Southern Mississippi. Effective April 1, 1990, Dr. Jeanette C. Phillips, chair and professor of the university’s Home Economics Department and a state coordinator of the USDA funded NET Program for education and training in the child nutrition programs, was named Acting Executive Director. Jim Reeves, an administrator in the Outreach division of the university, was named Assistant Director of Administration.

During the first year of operations, Task 1 was the recruitment and selection of key personnel, the establishment of physical facilities, and the formation of advisory boards.

As the Institute was established, it was guided by two advisory boards: the General Advisory Board (GAB) and the Research, Education, and Technical Advisory Board (RETAB). In 1993, these two advisory boards were combined to form the National Advisory Council which held its first meeting in Oxford, MS, August 12-15, 1993, and continues to serve the Institute.

Dr. Josephine Martin became the Institute’s first executive director (June 1, 1991 through August 31, 1996). Dr. Martin had served as an area school nutrition consultant with the Georgia Department of Education, a USDA regional nutritionist in the Southeast Region, and Georgia's state child nutrition director. Prior to her retirement from the Georgia Department of Education in 1991, she was an Associate State Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Martin served as president of the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA, now the School Nutrition Association) 1976-77, and is a member of the Association of School Business Officials, the American Dietetic Association (now known as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics), the Georgia School Nutrition Association, and the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Dr. Martin is the co-editor of Managing Child Nutrition Programs: Leadership for Excellence, published in 1999 and revised in 2008. She has received an ADA Medallion Award, IFMA's Silver Plate in School Food Service, the Tom O'Hearn Legislative Award, and the John Stalker Award for Distinguished Service in Child Nutrition. In 2006 she received the Gene White Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Nutrition given by the Child Nutrition Foundation.

Dr. Jeannie Sneed was named Director of the Applied Research Division, located at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS, July 1, 1991 (1991-1994). She earned her doctorate at Ohio State University with a major in foodservice management and a minor in organizational behavior. She received her BS and MS degrees in Food, Nutrition and Institution Administration from Oklahoma State University and completed a dietetic internship at Indiana University School of Medicine. She taught at Iowa State University, Oregon State University, The University of Tennessee, and the University of Georgia. She is a Registered Dietitian (RD), a Certified Professional-Food Safety (CP-FS), School Foodservice Nutrition Specialist (SNS), and ServSafe certified. She went on to serve as Food Safety Specialist in the Office of Food Safety, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; as well as Professor and Department Head, Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics at Kansas State University. She served as the Director of the School of Family and Consumer Studies at Kent State University. She wrote the book Understanding Foodservice Financial Management (1st ed. 1988).

In 1992, the Institute declared its purpose, mission and vision.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the Institute is to improve the operation of Child Nutrition Programs through research, education and training, and information dissemination.

MISSION: The mission of the Institute is to provide information and services that promote the continuous improvement of Child Nutrition Programs.

VISION: The vision of the Institute is to be the leader in providing education, research, and resources to promote excellence in Child Nutrition Programs.

Institute Theme: Building the Future Through Child Nutrition

The Institute immediately began developing and delivering training designed for child nutrition professionals. One landmark idea was the Breakfast Lunch Training (BLT) concept designed to deliver capsuled information to assist child nutrition managers in providing staff training in limited time segments. The Education and Training Work Group of RETAB (advisory board), led by Shirley Watkins and Laverne Hellums, Education and Training Division Director for the Institute, developed the BLT concept. The first BLT module was presented at the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) Annual National Conference in Las Vegas, NV on July 23, 1991. From 1991 until 2011, the Institute developed and delivered a “BLT” on a current topic each year.

The Institute pioneered the use of technology to deliver education and training in the operation of Child Nutrition Programs with the goal of reaching a national audience as efficiently and effectively as possible. The first teleconference Dietary Guidelines in Your Hands aired April 28, 1992. From 1992 through 1999, the Institute produced 18 teleconferences or satellite seminars in the Managing Child Nutrition Programs to Teach Healthy Food Practices series delivered via a National Satellite Network. The first 8 teleconferences averaged 14,250 participants from 46 states via 900 downlink sites. On November 9, 1993, the Promoting Healthy Food Practices Satellite Seminar that aired April 28, 1993 won the 1993 Best Distance Learning Program (live continuing education) and second place for the Best Directed Broadcast Satellite Production (under $10,000 budget) at the TeleCon XIII Applied Business TeleCommunications conference, San Diego, CA. The Institute continued to use satellite seminars to conduct training until 2008 when they shifted to web based seminars (webinars).

The Institute hosted the Nutrition Management for Children with Special Needs Conference October 29-31, 1992, in Kansas City, MO. Senator Bob Dole attended the conference and delivered a key note address. Results from the conference were used to develop training for meeting special needs in child nutrition programs.

The Institute conducted the first Orientation to Child Nutrition Management – Managing for Healthy Food Practices as a 2-week course in conjunction with the Department of Home Economics at the University of Mississippi June 6-10 & June 13-17, 1994. In 2004, the signature seminar was reorganized from a two-week training to a one-week seminar. In addition to the annual summer seminar held at the Institute June 21-25, 2004, the Institute expanded Orientation to conduct it at different locations around the country, including Indianapolis, IN (USDA’s Midwest Region) July 12-16, 2004, and Baton Rouge, LA (USDA’s Southwest Region) September 13-17, 2004. In 2017, the Institute will present three seminars at the Institute and additional seminars at locations around the country. The seminar has offered trainings on current topics such as the changes to the meal patterns, financial management, special needs, and produce safety. In seminars conducted at the Institute, participants have an opportunity to earn undergraduate or graduate credits in partnership with the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management at the University of Mississippi.

Between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, in its twenty-first year, Orientation to School Nutrition Management was conducted in eight sessions in California, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah reaching 219 participants. To that date, 1,889 professionals from all 50 states, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, England, Guam, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC have participated in this seminar.

The Healthy Cuisine for Kids two-day workshop was developed with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The pilot workshop was presented December 8-9, 1994, in Tallahassee, Florida. The idea is to train on cooking techniques for preparing healthy, delicious school lunches. The format of the workshop has changed little over the decades as the Institute and USDA continue to adapt to the changing demands of child nutrition programs. In 2007, the Institute re-envisioned the Healthy Cuisine for Kids seminar with the assistance of the Culinary Institute of America. That year, the Healthy Cuisine for Kids three-day seminar was conducted at the Institute, at the CIA in Hyde Park, NY, and at the CIA Greystone Campus in St. Helena, CA. Today, Healthy Cuisine for Kids seminars are conducted around the country in various sites.

Other training programs initiated by the Institute included First Choice Procurement and NETPRO workshops for professional development. Financial management training has been offered by the Institute from 1991 when it was offered as a pre-conference at that year’s ASFSA ANC. The Financial Management Course is designed to teach the school foodservice directors basic principles of accounting and how to apply those principles, the process for budget development, and local, state and federal requirements for maintaining accurate financial records in the School Nutrition Program. In January 2005 a Financial Management Train the Trainer Pilot Workshop was held at the Institute with the idea of training teams of trainers to conduct this essential training in their home states. Over the past decade, the Institute has delivered Financial Management: A Course for School Nutrition Directors and Financial Management for Managers dozens of times each year and the teams of trainers developed through the train-the-trainer workshops continue to expand the reach of this training.

From July 2015-June 2016, ICN provided 343 training sessions reaching 11,545 child nutrition professionals throughout the United States and the Virgin Islands. Trainings were delivered by ICN staff and regional training team members on requested topics such as Nutrition 101, Financial Management, HealthierUS School Challenge, Family Child Care FUNdamentals, Foundations for Training Excellence, Food Safety, Healthy Cuisine for Kids Culinary Training, Managing Food Allergies in Schools, Meal Pattern, Procurement in the 21st Century, and Utilizing the Cafeteria as a Classroom

The first issue of NFSMI Insight, research findings in an easy to read format for school foodservice practitioners, entitled “Managing Nutrition Services for Children with Special Needs,” was published in October 1994.

The Institute (National Food Service Management Institute) was reauthorized in 1994 (PL 103-448 Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994. PL 103-465, NSLA Dec. 8, 1994) on a permanent basis. The legislation provided for a permanent minimum appropriation via a grant and also provided for additional funding on a discretionary basis and authority for USDA to enter into cooperative agreements with the Institute on a non-competitive basis to carry out specific activities.

The School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children (SMI) was established by the USDA in 1994 to revise and update nutrition standards for school meals to comply with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for children over age two. Team Nutrition was the USDA implementation vehicle for its School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children. Among other things, Team Nutrition provides grants to state agencies to provide training to school food personnel, nutrition education to children and their parents, and support healthy eating and physical activities involving school, child care, and community groups.

In October 1995, Dr. Martha Conklin was named Director of the Applied Research Division at USM in Hattiesburg, MS. Dr. Conklin earned her Ph.D. from New York University, and BS and MS degrees from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She was a registered dietician (RD) and a licensed dietician nutritionist (LDN). She was co-editor with Dr. Josephine Martin of the book Managing Child Nutrition Programs – Leadership for Excellence (1st ed. 1999). She later joined the School of Hospitality Management at Pennsylvania State University.

As early as 1996, the Institute began planning for effective use of technology with a Technology Task Force meeting conducted at Penn State to plan for a distance learning system. In October 1996, the Institute launched its first web page on the University of Mississippi system. The website was redesigned in 2000 although still hosted on the UM system. In 2002, the USDA Recipes for Child Nutrition Programs were added to the website; this is still one of the most accessed pages of the current website.

On August 31, 1996, Dr. Josephine Martin retired as Executive Director. From Sept. 1, 1996 – June 30, 1997, Dr. Jeanette Phillips served as Acting Executive Director.

On July 1, 1997, Dr. Jane Logan became Executive Director of the Institute. She served as the Executive Director 1997-2002. Previously she was state director for the School Nutrition Programs and Nutrition Education and Training Coordinator, Virginia Department of Education. She holds a doctoral degree from The Ohio State University in human nutrition with a minor in preventive medicine. She received a Master of Science degree from Ohio University in foods and nutrition and a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana State College in home economics education. Dr. Logan’s other professional experience includes public health in Richmond, VA, Baltimore, MD, and Cincinnati, OH; adjunct faculty, Virginia Commonwealth University; and consultant and teacher. On June 30, 2002, Dr. Logan retired and Dr. Jeanette Phillips again served as Interim Executive Director.

On July 31, 1997, Shirley Watkins was confirmed as USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. Ms. Watkins, of Hope, AR, was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, USDA. She previously served as Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services and as Director of Nutrition for the Memphis City Schools. She was President of ASFSA 1988 – 1989. She also served on the Institute’s original General Advisory Board and the RETAB in the early 1990s.

In 1997-1999: the Hands-On Team technical assistance project (HOT) was a two-year pilot project funded by USDA and directed by the Institute. The project was designed to promote the goals of the Healthy School Meals Initiative by delivering specialized on-site technical assistance to local school authorities on a no-fee basis. The Institute continues to provide on-site technical assistance on a limited basis as requested through state agencies managing child nutrition programs.

R. Gerald Turner Hall

On March 27, 1998, the Institute held the ground-breaking ceremony for a new building on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, MS. On March 23, 2001, construction was completed and the new state of the art NFSMI Building was dedicated. On Feb. 16, 2007, the NFSMI Building was designated R. Gerald Turner Hall in honor of the former UM chancellor who had worked with Dr. Martin to secure the funding for the new building.

ICN has three divisions located on the campus of The University of Mississippi: Administration, Education and Training, and Information Services, which includes the Child Nutrition Archives. An auditorium, multi-purpose room, state-of-the-art technology-designed classrooms, conference rooms, clearinghouse, archives storage facilities, training laboratory, and test kitchen provide resources for meetings, classes, seminars, and video production.

On July 1, 2003, Dr. Charlotte B. Oakley was hired as Executive Director. Dr. Oakley earned a B.S. with a major in Vocational Home Economics and M.A. with a major in General Home Economics from The University of Mississippi. She earned a Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food Science from Mississippi State University. She is a Registered Dietitian and a Fellow of the American Dietetic Association.

Prior to being chosen as the Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Oakley was Associate Professor in the School of Human Sciences, Mississippi State University, and adjunct professor at the University of Memphis. From 1979 to 1995 she was a member of the faculty of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at The University of Mississippi, where she served as the Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics from 1987-1999.

Dr. Oakley has served on several USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services task forces and training teams. She was a member of the Mississippi Nutrition Education Training Program (NET) training team from 1979-1992. She has also served as a member of the Education and Nutrition Committees of the American School Food Service Association. She served as the Chair of the Commission on the Accreditation for Dietetics Education of the American Dietetic Association. She has served as President of the Mississippi Dietetic Association. While at the Institute, Dr. Oakley developed and delivered the Healthy Cuisine for Kids Workshop training program. She was co-editor with Dr. Josephine Martin of the book Managing Child Nutrition Programs – Leadership for Excellence (2nd ed. 2008).

The Child Nutrition Archives

The Child Nutrition Archives was established at the Institute under the 2003 Grant agreement with USDA. The Institute had received several collections prior to the creation of the Archives. In May 1992, Thelma Flanagan, a past-president of ASFSA and nationally recognized leader in child nutrition, presented the Institute with her papers that includes memos that established State Departments of Education as administering state agencies, a copy of the Surgeon General’s speech that contains the famous quotation about wasting money on education when we’re trying to teach half-starved children, and publications of the 30’s and 40’s. (Memo 92-3) Other early collections included Ruth Moskowitz Collection, Marshall Matz Papers, and Eleanor Pratt Collection. On Feb. 27, 2004, the Child Nutrition Archives received a major contribution from Earnestine Camp of Little Rock, Arkansas. Ms. Camp served over 60 years in the child nutrition profession, beginning in 1942 as a young home economics teacher at Yellville, Arkansas, who inherited the school lunch program during WWII and then serving with the Arkansas Department of Education from 1953 - 1987. Her collection consists of over 27 banker’s boxes of materials as well as over 600 photographs that have been scanned and posted to the ICN Child Nutrition Archives website.

The mission of the Child Nutrition Archives is to collect, preserve, and make available materials related to the establishment, history, development, and implementation of the federally assisted child nutrition programs.  The Child Nutrition Archives fulfills this mission through the on-going collection, processing, preservation, and exhibition across multiple platforms of materials, books and manuscripts, photographs, video resources, personal and organizational memorabilia, and personal stories captured via the Oral History Project posted to the http://archives.theicn.org website. Highlights of the collections include approximately 98 manuscript collections for a total of 178 holdings, 234 oral histories of child nutrition professionals, 27 photographic collections containing more than 2,550 images that have been scanned for preservation, and the addition of 398 items to the small manuscripts collection, in addition to other donations, as of June 30, 2016. Other notable collections include a Rare Books Collection featuring first editions of Poverty, by Robert Hunter, 1904; The School Lunch: Its Organization and Management in Philadelphia, by Emma Smedley, 1920; and The Bitter Cry of the Children, by John Spargo, First Edition, Fifth Printing, April 1908.

April 23, 2004, the USDA HealthierUS Nutrition Forum was held at the Institute with USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (USDA/FNCS) Eric Bost as the keynote speaker.

A Symposium on U.S. Child Nutrition Programs: Past, Present, and Future, held at the Institute March 20-21, 2006, celebrated 60 years of growth and success from the signing of the National School Lunch Act. Thad Cochran, U. S. Senator from Mississippi, was a featured speaker in the symposium’s opening sessions. Dr. Josephine Martin presented 60 Years of Child Nutrition – A Look Back, A Look Forward, an overview of CNP, the work of SNA, and her experiences in a lifetime of child nutrition advocacy. Dr. Martha Swain from Texas Woman’s University presented The New Deal with Heart: WPA Feeding Programs for Children During Depression and War. Dr. Janet Poppendieck from City University of New York presented Before the National School Lunch Act: Federal Participation in School Meals in the Great Depression and World War II. These presentations discussed the social and political conditions that set the stage for establishing a national school lunch program. A large banner of President Truman signing the National School Lunch Act at the front of the auditorium was created from a photograph provided by the Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Dr. Michael Devine, director of the Truman Library, spoke on President Harry S. Truman: Post War America and the National School Lunch Act. The symposium included panel discussions of changes in the federally funded CNP since 1946 and Recollections from the Front Lines of School Food Service. The symposium ended with a presentation on the Child Nutrition Archives by Meredith Johnston, Coordinator of Archiving Services.

Meredith Johnston was hired as the first Coordinator of Archival Services in October 2003; she left the Institute in April 2006. Jeffrey C. Boyce became the Coordinator of Archival Services in September 2006.

In March 2016, the Institute loaned its interactive multi-touch display, normally located in the lobby of the Institute building, to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library until Fall 2016. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act on June 4, 1946, and the display honors the 70th anniversary. Highlights featured on the kiosk are: a historical timeline of the development of child nutrition programs in the United States from 1853 to present day; the 1948 color film The School That Learned to Eat; three photograph collections of child feeding programs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and a welcome video featuring ICN Executive Director Aleshia Hall-Campbell.

On October 22, 2004, Dr. Deborah Carr was named director of the Applied Research Division of the Institute at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Carr had been a Research Scientist with ARD for 10 years. She brought three decades of experience as a school nutrition administrator and director of nutrition services. Dr. Carr earned a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics, a master’s degree in institution management, and a doctorate in nutrition and food systems with a minor in adult education, all from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is a registered dietitian and licensed dietitian in the state of Mississippi and is a member of the American Dietetic Association and School Nutrition Association.

Cooks for Kids

Cooks for Kids, an innovative series of video programs developed by the Institute, is based on the theme that “Children should have access to healthful food and be able to make healthy food choices no matter where they are – at home, in school, and in the community.” Each episode of the first season, which premiered September 13, 2007, takes the viewer to restaurants, schools, and homes where cooks demonstrate techniques of preparing and serving healthful, delicious food, featuring nine different food themes. Each program featured three segments: a chef and his/her restaurant; a segment filmed in schools around the U.S.; and a kid-centered piece showing children and care givers preparing the foods at home. The 30-minute programs were broadcast via satellite, archived online on the Institute’s Website, and made available on DVD.

“Pizzas with Pizzazz” episode five of Cooks for Kids Season One, was awarded a bronze Telly Award in 2008.

Cooks for Kids: Healthy Cooking Across America (Season Two) premiered in September 2008. Season Two explores healthy foods and techniques that schools can adopt. In each episode, the chef host Ron DeSantis from the CIA and guest chefs shows how to prepare three regional favorite dishes, and then the nutrition host Jeannette Jordan shares nutrition insights.

The Institute won a Clarion Award from Association for Women in Communications (AWS) for Season Two’s Cooks for Kids: Healthy Cooking Across America Episode 5, Cajun/Creole Cuisine in October 2009.

Cooks for Kids: Cooking Green Across America (Season Three – 4 episodes), broadcast during the 2009-2010 school year, takes a look at the foods served at schools from seed to table and back to dirt through composting, illustrating the connection schools have with local farms to serve healthy meals in school cafeterias, how they are using the school garden to teach children about where food comes from, and ways schools are becoming more ecofriendly. Chef Marvin Woods and young friends demonstrate ways to prepare healthier foods for school children and classroom activities that reinforce healthy food concepts. In 2010, “Seasonal Food of Summer,” the first episode of Cooks for Kids: Cooking Green Across America captured a Silver Telly Award in the Health and Wellness category. The series which was picked up and broadcast via public broadcasting networks was also nominated for a regional Emmy in 2010.

In October 2011, the Institute received the Clarion Award from the AWC for Cooks for Kids: Cooking Green Across America Episode 3, Seasonal Foods of Winter. In 2011, the Institute won its second bronze Telly for the Cooks for Kids series.

Cooks for Kids Season Four: Chefs Move to Schools (two episodes) was posted to the NFSMI website in December 2011. This season shows how schools, chefs, and farmers are teaming up to provide healthier meals for school children. Episode 1, Viroqua, Wisconsin, Area School District partners with a French chef. Episode 2, Orange County Public Schools (Orlando, Florida) teams up with local chefs and takes part in the Recipes for Healthy Kids Competition.

Website Development

The Institute launched a redesigned, expanded Website www.nfsmi.org on June 2, 2008. Besides a new look, the Website offered features to help people find what they need, personalize their experience, and access resources via the Document Library. It presented a new Child Nutrition Archives website highlighting the Oral History Project and Manuscript Collections. The new Website also delivered online professional development courses drawn from the Institute’s most requested training topics, such as financial management, food safety, and nutrition. ICN’s first online courses were developed from On the Road to Professional Food Preparation: Standardized Recipes; Weights and Measures; Portion Control; and Adjusting a Recipe. Six Culinary Techniques for Healthy School Meals series of online courses also launched in 2009. These online courses incorporated the 16 lessons and 53 video lessons of the Culinary Techniques program. As of June 30, 2016, the Institute’s online course catalog consisted of over 80 online courses, with 105,380 online course registrations in the period July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016.

The Institute’s website underwent significant revisions, beginning with a redesigned Child Nutrition Archives website (http://archives.theicn.org), in the transition from www.nfsmi.org to www.theicn.org July 1, 2015. For the year 2015-2016 (measured as of June 30, 2016), ICN’s website had 2,147,312 visits to the site with 258,883 unique visitors totaling 66,914,428 hits and 8,783.44 GB of content downloaded. 

ICN Directors

In June 2009 Dr. Deborah Carr retired as Director of Applied Research. In August 2009, Dr. Mary Frances Nettles was hired as Director of Applied Research. Dr. Nettles worked as a Research Scientist for the Applied Research Division for four years prior to her promotion. She earned her doctorate in Food Service and Hospitality Management, as well as her Master of Institute Management, from Kansas State University. She received her B.S. degree in Food and Nutrition from Mississippi State University. She previously served as assistant director for the Dietetics Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, as well as working with the Mississippi Department of Education, Child Nutrition Programs. She was awarded Kansas State University’s 2012 College of Human Ecology Distinguished Research Award that annually recognizes a graduate who has achieved significant success in research while contributing to the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

December 31, 2009, Dr. Charlotte B. Oakley resigned; Dr. Robin Buchannan, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Sponsored Programs and Research Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of Mississippi, served as Acting Executive Director January 1, 2010 – June 30, 2010.

Dr. Kathryn T. (Katie) Wilson served as Executive Director of the Institute July 1, 2010, through May 1, 2015. Dr. Wilson holds a master’s degree in Food and Science Nutrition and a doctorate in Foodservice and Lodging Management. She is a credentialed School Nutrition Specialist. She served as the 2008-2009 President of the School Nutrition Association, Chairman of the Board for the School Nutrition Foundation in 2009-2010, and as school nutrition director for Onalaska Public Schools in Onalaska, Wisconsin. Dr. Wilson is recognized as an expert in the field of child nutrition and has testified before Congress twice on school nutrition issues and held briefings for both U.S. Congressional staff and Senate staff, including testifying before the Senate committee in July 2014.

The Institute Partners with USDA and the White House in Efforts to Serve More Healthful Meals in Schools

In October 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), at the request of the USDA, researched the school nutrition programs and made recommendations for revisions to the school lunch and school breakfast programs in the report, School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children.

On February 9, 2010, President Barack Obama established the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity “redoubling our efforts to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-establishing-a-task-force-childhood-obesity ] Members of the task force included Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and the USDA as administrator of the federally assisted child nutrition programs as well as SNAP and WIC became a major partner with the White House. In May 2010, the Task Force presented a plan of action entitled “Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity in a Generation.” [ https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/childhood-obesity-task-force-unveils-action-plan-solving-problem-childhood-obesity-] The February 2011 White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President (One-Year Progress Report) stated that “One in every three children ages 2-19 is overweight or obese.”  [http://www.letsmove.gov/white-house-task-force-childhood-obesity-report-president]

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service Farm to School program was established as one component of USDA's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative that launched in 2009. The Institute was engaged to assist in promoting Farm to School, Let’s Move! and related initiatives such as the Chefs Move to Schools program founded in May 2010. The Institute developed training and resources to support these initiatives, including working with the Chef’s Move to Schools program to help chefs learn how best to work with local schools.

December 13, 2010. PL 111-296 The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was signed into law by President Barack Obama. [http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/PL111-296_Summary.pdf] Many of the new provisions of the law required final ruling and extensive training from USDA. The Institute as a trusted partner greatly expanded training to meet the needs of child nutrition professionals. USDA published new proposed rules and regulations based on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations for updates and revisions to the school lunch and breakfast programs, and on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010. http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2010.asp. In April 2011, USDA's child nutrition programs implemented new rules designed to encourage use of local farm products in school meals. The final rule let schools and other providers give preference to unprocessed locally grown and locally raised agricultural products as they purchase food for the National School Lunch, School Breakfast, Special Milk, Child and Adult Care, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable, and Summer Food Service programs. The rule is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 signed into law by President Obama and one of the key provisions to bolster Farm to School programs across the country. The Institute partners with Farm-to-School programs to provide training and resources.

June 2, 2011. USDA announced the MyPlate icon - Graphic illustrates a plate with proportional sections representing the recommended intake of the food group depicted. The Institute quickly updated references to the MyPyramid guidance to the new concept. [http://choosemyplate.gov]

On July 25, 2011, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced the winners of First Lady Michelle Obama's Recipes for Healthy Kids competition. The contest launched in September 2010 to challenge students, parents and other interested community members to create tasty and healthy new recipes for America's school cafeteria menus. Dr. Wilson served on the judges team for this contest. Winners from the Recipe for Healthy Kids (R4HK) Competition have been posted in cookbooks for Home, Child Care, and Schools.  Links to the winning recipes have also been added to the ICN website https://theicn.org/icn-resources-a-z/recipes-for-healthy-kids/ .

As of April 1, 2010, the National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) officially joined the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Mississippi. Until then, the Institute had been overseen by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

August 9-13, 2010, the first Produce Safety University (PSU) was held in the Washington D.C. area, jointly with USDA food safety. Three pilot courses were conducted in 2010.

October 26-27, 2010. NFSMI consultants were invited to attend the first train-the-trainer session for HealthierUS School Challenge. This was moving toward the goal to create a system of regional trainers. 22 consultants participated.

December 7-9, 2010. HealthierUS School Challenge and Financial Management training at NFSMI. This was the first back-to-back training session held at NFSMI offering free training in more than one topic across several days. The idea was to combine trainings that people could get in one trip to the Institute. ICN has continued to follow this model of training, frequently offering several trainings at one time and occasionally paying travel expenses of participants. There is no cost to participants for the training.

July 23, 2014. Meeting the Challenges of Feeding America’s School Children. Hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition & Forestry. Dr. Katie Wilson, Executive Director of the National Food Service Management Institute, testified. Other panelists were: Betti Wiggins, Executive Director of the Office of Food Services, Detroit (MI) Public Schools; Scott Clements, Director, Office of Healthy Schools and Child Nutrition, Mississippi Department of Education; Julia Bauscher, President of the School Nutrition Association and Director of School and Community Nutrition Services in Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, KY; and Phil Muir, President and CEO of Muir Copper Canyon Farms, Salt Lake City, UT.

In response to the need for additional technical assistance and support for school districts having difficulties meeting the new meal pattern requirements and other issues related to the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, the USDA and the Institute worked together to develop Team Up for School Nutrition Success. The pilot training session was held at the Institute November 12-13, 2014.

On March 9, 2015, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional support for schools working to serve school children healthy meals with the nationwide expansion of the Team Up for School Nutrition Success Initiative. The initiative provides school nutrition personnel training, technical assistance, and peer to peer mentoring that addresses their individual resource and training needs. USDA expanded the Team Up program to all seven USDA regions.

In 2016, USDA again expanded the Team Up for School Nutrition Success Initiative to offer two training intensive options for workshops with the goal to provide some version of the workshop in all fifty states and territories by June 30, 2018.

Institute coordinates and manages the Team Up for School Nutrition Success initiative. ICN trained approximately 30 consultants to become lead mentors in October 2015, and provided a train-the-trainer workshop in November 2015 for over 100 state agency staff to implement the initiative throughout each state in the country. As of June 30, 2016, Team Up for School Nutrition Success has had an outreach to over 9,000 school nutrition professionals through the regional and state workshops and monthly webinars.

Dr. Wilson left the Institute to join the USDA as Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services as of May 1, 2015. Dr. Teresa Carithers, Associate Dean of the School of Applied Sciences, served as Interim Executive Director until Dr. Aleshia Hall-Campbell was named Acting Executive Director July 1, 2015, and was named as permanent Executive Director July 1, 2017.

Dr. Mary Frances Nettles retired as Director of Applied Research Division in June 2017. Dr. Keith Rushing became the Director of Applied Research Division July 1, 2017. He holds a PhD in Institution Management from Texas Tech University, a Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a B.S. in Marketing from Mississippi State University. He worked with the Applied Research Division as a research scientist for ten years prior to his promotion.

The National Food Service Management Institute officially changed its name to the Institute of Child Nutrition effective July 1, 2015.