Priscilla Connors Ph.D.

Hospitality Event and Tourism Management

Associate Professor

About

It's here! Nutrition for Consumers by Priscilla Connors was digitally published by Pressbooks and now is available on the Open Books Library at UNT! The information in this handbook is designed to be accessible by everyday consumers who need evidence-based facts about nutrients and how to build healthy eating habits. I received a UNT OER Grant for this project. It is listed on UNT Open Books Catalog page: https://openbooks.library.unt.edu/about/catalog/

DOI is: 10.12794/sps.ot-nutritionfc
DOI link is: https://dx.doi.org/10.12794/sps.ot-nutritionfc

What's Nutrition for the Consumer About? When you know more about evidence-based nutrition you are better able to plan for healthy food choices. This book is an introduction to everyday nutrition and its application to healthy living. It opens with a chapter on food safety and security that describes nutritious foods as safe to eat, available where people live, and easily accessed. The following chapter on nutrition recommendations introduces the reader to healthful eating practices and online food and nutrition resources such as U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration. The third chapter describes how food and drink is transformed into nutrients that are absorbed and utilized. Chapters four through nine introduce six nutrient categories: Carbohydrates in Grains, Fruits, & Vegetables (4) , Lipids and Fats (5), Protein in Health and Food Sources (6), Vitamins in Health and Disease (7), Minerals Inorganic Nutrients (8), and Water in Health (9). Nutrition in Healthy Living (10) reviews the role that nutrition plays in promoting good health and reducing chronic disease risk. https://dx.doi.org/10.12794/sps.ot-nutritionfc

In an age of disinformation ascendance there is an immediate need for digital literacy in evaluating online food and nutrition claims. Despite perceptions that young adults are digital natives, they are no more adept in judging the credibility of online sources than other groups and benefit from fact checker training that reduce reliance on superficial website characteristics such as top-level domain, site design, and the "About" page, while building skills in evaluating facts behind online health and nutrition claims. During the 2020 calendar year I collaborated with Stanford University History Education Group (SHEG) in the development and testing of a curriculum intervention in my 100% online Principles of Nutrition class. The goal was to adapt civic reasoning modules previously used in face-to-face teaching to an asynchronous 100% online nutrition class. I contacted SHEG and worked closely with Stanford experts in developing, launching, and evaluating an eight-week nutrition news literacy module for my class. In an age of disinformation ascendance there is an immediate need for digital literacy in evaluating online food and nutrition claims. Despite perceptions that young adults are digital natives, they are no more adept in judging the credibility of online sources than other groups and benefit from fact checker training that reduce reliance on superficial website characteristics such as top-level domain, site design, and the "About" page, while building skills in evaluating facts behind online health and nutrition claims. https://www.10news.com/news/news-literacy-project/free-curriculum-helping-students-evaluate-online-sources-spot-misinformation

I am an Associate Professor at UNT and a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. I am the designer/author and coordinator of two large enrollment Internet classes. Examples of my research in the scholarship of teaching and learning are published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, including Delivery Style Moderates Study Habits and Assessing Written Evidence of Critical Thinking in Nutrition Using an Analytical Rubric. I was Principle Investigator on a USDA funded field study of school meals that resulted in an Infographic, Food Choice and Waste in Texas Middle School Cafeterias. My research in school meals has been published in the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management, and Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.

I produced two collections that are hosted by the UNT Digital Library: Food Rules, featuring student work based on Michael Pollen’s Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/FOODR/ and Documenting Plate Waste in Middle School Cafeterias Using Digital Still Photography http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/DPWMSC/

Connors, P., & Schuelke, W. (2022). Date labels and college student perceptions of milk drinkability. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2021.104249
Breakstone, J., Smith, M. D,, Ortega, T.E., Kerby, D.F., Connors, P.L., (2021) Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate internet sources in an online course. Misinformation Review. 2(1). https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-56
Landry, M.J., Olvany, J.M., Mueller, M.P., Chen, T., Ikeda, J., Sinclair, D., Schatz, L.E,, Connors, P.L., Valgenti, R.T., Challamel, G.A., Gardner, C.D., Policastro, P. (2020). Faith in fat a multistate examination of university students' perception of fat in the diet. Nutrients, 12(9). doi.org/10.3390/nu12092560.
McNamara. J., Sweetman, S., Connors, P., Lofgren, L., Greene, G.W. (2019) Outcomes of an experimental study testing the effect of a framework to enhance critical thinking decision making skills in introductory college courses. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 52(4).343-350. DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2019.06.007
Turnwald, B., Bertoldo, J., Perry, M., Policastro, P., Timmons, M., Bosso, C., Connors, P., Valgenti, R.T., Pine, L., Challamel, G., Gardner, C.D., Crum, A.J. (2019) Increasing vegetable intake by emphasizing tasty and enjoyable attributes: A randomized controlled multi-site intervention for taste focused labeling. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797619872191
Connors, P.L. (2019) Adding physical fitness to your life. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 51(2). 263.