Skip to main content.

Technical Standards

Upon acceptance into the master's degree program in dietetics and nutrition, students are asked to acknowledge their ability to meet these standards with or without accommodations.

The following technical standards, in conjunction with the academic standards, are requirements for admission, retention and program completion. 

Reasonable accommodation will be considered and may be made to qualified students who disclose a disability, so 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.

Qualified students with a disability intending to request accommodations should provide appropriate documentation of disability and submit a request for accommodation to the following office:
Office for Academic Accommodations, 1040 Dykes Library
Cyn Ukoko, Senior Coordinator of Academic Accommodations
913-945-7035 (711 TTY), cukoko@kumc.edu

New Application for Academic Accommodations

The KU Department of Dietetics and Nutrition and the University of Kansas Medical Center have a commitment to nondiscrimination, access and reasonable accommodation of students with disabilities. Therefore, all students admitted to the master's degree program in dietetics and nutrition must be able to meet the following requirements and expectations with or without an accommodation. The program prepares students to practice dietetics and nutrition and to interpret and participate in research in nutrition within academic and health care organizations. Graduates need knowledge and skills to function in diverse practice and research settings.

All students admitted into the master's degree program in dietetics and nutrition must be able to perform the following:

Observe: Specific observation skills include, but are not limited to, being able to observe 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) that enable them to communicate with clients, teachers, health providers and faculty. Students must be able to report to members of the team, express accurate information to clients, and teach, explain, direct and counsel people.i

Ethical Standards: Students must demonstrate professional attitudes and behaviors and must perform in an ethical manner in dealing with others as outlined in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Code of Ethics for the Nutrition and Dietetics Profession. Personal integrity is required and the adherence to standards that reflect the values and the functions of the profession of dietetics and nutrition. Students are required to abide by student honor codes and research ethics.

Psychomotor: Students must be able to demonstrate the following skills: ability to generate, calculate, record, evaluate and transit information; prepare assignments; deliver public presentations to large and small audiences; collect specimens and perform basic tests and physical assessments on individuals, e.g., anthropometric assessments, finger sticks for blood glucose testing, using glucometers, assessing skin fold thickness, taking blood pressure; and/or working in institutional and food demonstration kitchens. 

Intellectual and Cognitive Abilities: Students must be able to measure, calculate reason, analyze, synthesize, integrate, and remember to apply information. Creative problem solving and clinical reasoning requires all of these intellectual abilities. 

Professional and Social Attributes: Students must promptly complete all responsibilities required of the program. They must develop mature, sensitive, and effective professional relationships with others. They must be able to tolerate taxing workloads and function effectively under stress. They must be able to adapt to changing environments, display flexibility and function in the face of uncertainties and ambiguities.

Concern for others, interpersonal competence and motivation are requisites for the program.

School of Health Professions

Dietetics and Nutrition
KU Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
Mailstop 4013
Kansas City, KS 66160
913-588-5355 • 711 TTY