The Kendall College School of Education announced the addition of a childhood-nutrition concentration for early-childhood educators. Available fall 2010, this new concentration furthers Kendall’s reputation for offering innovative online and on-campus courses that address current trends in early-childhood education.

“This concentration is in direct response to state and federal initiatives on childhood nutrition, healthy eating, and childhood obesity,” says Paul Busceni, dean of Kendall’s School of Education. “Kendall College’s concentration courses are designed with content that is relevant and responsive to the needs and expectations of today’s early-childhood educator.”

Kendall College is the only four-year college in Illinois and one of a select few nationwide to offer both a Bachelor of Arts in culinary arts and a Bachelor of Arts in early-childhood education, uniquely positioning the institution to merge its expertise from these two programs into the childhood-nutrition concentration.

“As a nationally recognized leader in the education of culinary arts, we are excited about this collaboration with our School of Education colleagues, who recognize a growing need in the field of early-childhood education,” says Renee Zonka, managing director and associate dean of Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts. “It’s a good feeling knowing that this will impact young lives.”

Courses will be offered online and on campus. They will include classroom lectures and practical, in-kitchen applications of nutritional theory, which online learners will engage in via a virtual kitchen experience. The concentration will explore the nutritional needs of children through adolescence, as well as application of nutritional theory with public-health initiatives.

In addition to the childhood-nutrition concentration, Kendall College is offering continuing-education-credit workshops this summer. The workshops are offered with time split between lecture and cooking demos.