Look at our POHA Scholars of 2020 – 2021 at the bottom!
The Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (POHA) Program at MSU Denver focuses on encouraging students from diverse backgrounds and those with an interest in serving diverse populations to pursue post-baccalaureate study in nutrition at MSU Denver. While dietitians and nutrition professionals around the country serve a very diverse population, approximately 91% of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) are white females.
The POHA-Denver program aims to diversify the field of nutrition and dietetics by:
• Conducting outreach to students in high schools, community colleges, and in baccalaureate programs
• Providing financial support to help students navigate barriers to participating in post-baccalaureate degree programs
• Hiring diverse support staff to fuel the grant efforts and to provide advising for current and prospective students
• Offering financial-literacy training focusing on loan payback and budgeting
• Development of regular seminars and an annual conference focused on diversity in dietetics and health care
The grant also aims to promote cultural intelligence among faculty, students, staff, and practitioners in the field.
Over the 2020-2021 Academic Year, the POHA Program awarded $60,000 in scholarships and research stipends to diverse nutrition students in our POHA Scholars Program.
The program also offered quarterly financial literacy trainings to scholars.
The program provided monthly cultural intelligence trainings to faculty, staff and students. As a result, the MS in HND has increased the diversity of its student body, with the percentage of students of color increasing from 4% in 2019-2020 to 13% in 2020-2021.
Contact us and learn about our story and to add a little spice, and some of our personality!
Jessica Toro
POHA Program Manager
303-615-0990
[email protected]
