We had a NICBC (Nutrition Intervention, Communication, and Behavior Change) Career Discovery event this past spring, and here are some highlights from the talk.
Professor Christina Economos and Dr. Nina Schlossman led the program. Nina is the first Ph.D. student who graduated from the Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy Schlossman is also the founder of Global Food & Nutrition Inc., a consulting firm that focuses on solving food insecurity and creating healthy communities. Economos started the event with an outlook for the NICBC program, and Schlossman talked about her work experience in the consulting area and shared some career development insights.
NICBC Program Design
Here are some key points from Economos’s rundown:
There are three major parts of the NICBC program: nutrition science and policy, data analysis and interpretation, and communications, interventions and behavior.
- In nutrition science and policy, faculty are teaching and researching at the same time. They strive to stay up-to-date on the literature and aim to describe how science continuously informs policies such as WIC, SNAP, and DRI.
- Interpreting the literature is an important skill. Our graduates can access, research, interpret resources, and form opinions.
- For behavior theory and communication campaigns, we infuse multi-media communication strategies to keep up with the digital age.
- The program also emphasizes foundational writing skills. Students will always need to convert their ideas effectively into written word.
Career Development Insights from Schlossman
Schlossman gave students some tips about working in consulting and entrepreneurship:
- Is your endeavor a business or a hobby? If you are very passionate about it, you need to think about your endeavor from a business aspect.
- Think about benefits and salary history during job searching. Salary can only be increased a little bit at a time.
- Communication is always important. It could be making a quick presentation or writing a report, but it should be thoughtfully written.
- No matter what you do, it’s all about business elements, e.g., how to price things. In consulting, there are implications of different contracts. Is it a fixed-price contract? How do you structure a contract for your consultant?
Career Discovery Exercise
The participants were invited to brainstorm key values they wanted to have as part of their careers. To kick off the exercise, both Economos and Schlossman shared their four key words:
- Economos: Integrity, Growth, Perseverance, Hardworking
- Schlossman: Autonomy, Balance, Contribution, and Leadership
Below is a word cloud from the event. We encourage you to try the exercise and think about what you value most in your career.
