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Nutrition and Dietetics

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Glossary

  • Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND): Approximately 70,000-member organization of food and nutrition professionals. 
  • Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND): AND's accrediting agency for education programs that prepare students for careers as Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN) or dietetic technicians, registered (DTR). ACEND is recognized by the United States Department of Education.
  • Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR): AND's agency for the credentialing of registered dietitians, dietetic technicians registered, and board-certified specialists in 5 practice areas of nutrition and dietetics.
  • Dietetic Internship (DI): ACEND accredited program that provides a minimum of 1200 hours of supervised practice in dietetics. Successful completion of a Dietetic Internship allows students to meet CDR eligibility requirements to take the registered examination for dietitians, thus becoming RDs.
  • Dietetic Internship Verification: Process whereby a dietetic internship director verifies completion of a dietetic internship. 
  • Didactic Program in Nutrition and Dietetics (DPD): ACEND accredited program that provides students the foundation knowledge required for dietetics practice. Students who complete the courses in a DPD program and are verified by their DPD director are eligible to apply to an ACEND accredited dietetic internship. 
  • DPD Declaration of Intent: To apply to Internships, students must have either a DPD Verification or a Declaration of Intent to complete the DPD by the time the DI begins. The Declaration of Intent permits students who are in the final semester of taking DPD courses to apply to DI's; it lists the courses the students will take that semester to complete the DPD. When these courses are completed, a DPD Verification is issued. A DPD Verification is required for Internship enrollment.
  • DPD Verification: Process whereby the DPD Director verifies that DPD requirements have been met and issues an official statement that the student will submit when applying to dietetic internships.
  • Matriculation: Enrollment as a student in a degree program within an academic department. Students meet with an advisor and complete a "master's degree statement of requirements" that specifies which prerequisite courses and how many graduate credits must be completed in order to graduate.