Notable Alumna, Esther Winterfeldt

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Esther A. Winterfeldt’s College of Human Sciences and Oklahoma State University roots are deep. She has a longstanding relationship and an impressive record of service to the university, the college and the Department of Nutritional Sciences.

Esther began her journey in the field now known as nutritional sciences during her freshman year at OSU. She sought employment to help support her academic studies and was offered a job in food service by the head dietitian in Willard Hall. This early entry into the field aligned perfectly with her strong interests in food and science. In 1948, Esther graduated from OSU with a B.S. in Home Economics and subsequently completed her dietetic internship at the University of Michigan Hospital. Following her time in Michigan, Esther spent the next few years working as a clinical dietitian in Louisville, Kentucky, and Chicago.

She completed a M.S. degree in nutritional sciences at Oklahoma State in 1957 before spending several years as head of the Dietary Department at the Ohio State University Hospital. After earning her Ph.D. at Ohio State University in 1970, Esther moved back to Stillwater. From 1970-1985, she served as associate dean for research, Regents Professor and head of the Department of Food, Nutrition and Institution Administration (now Nutritional Sciences) at Oklahoma State. She guided the department through a period of tremendous growth, including establishing a research-based graduate program before retiring in the late 1980s. 

Esther was often honored for her work. She was recognized with the Distinguished Dietitian Award from the Oklahoma Dietetics Association in 1986 and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Ohio State University in 1983. In 1993, she received the Marjorie Hulsizer Copher Award, the highest honor given by the American Dietetics Association. Esther was inducted to the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2002.

Following her retirement from Oklahoma State, she served as interim department head at Auburn University and at the University of Texas in Houston. Esther then found her way back to Stillwater where she served the College of Human Sciences as the interim department head for Human Development and Family Science and again as the head of nutritional sciences for another two years.

Since 2005, Esther has been fully retired from her academic career, but has written books related to nutrition and healthy aging. She co-authored a textbook on careers in dietetics called Nutrition and Dietetics: Practice and Future Trends, now in its fifth edition. She also has written six books for the general public that are focused on optimal health and nutrition in aging, including Aging in Good Mental Health and Be Healthy: Prevent Disease.

Not unlike other faculty, Esther says the most rewarding part of working in higher education is working with students. She also appreciated her good relationships with the various deans of the college who were very supportive of Department of Nutritional Sciences and provided her autonomy to grow the program in new and exciting directions. She also worked closely with the American Dietetics Association (now the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) and served as the organization’s president in 1979-80.

Today, Esther is a resident of Spanish Cove, a retirement community in Yukon, Oklahoma, and remains very active in serving the profession and her community. Esther also helped establish the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program at Oklahoma State University, which plays a key role in the outreach mission of Oklahoma State.

A long-time friend of the OSU Department of Nutritional Sciences, Esther’s passion for research and scholarly pursuits has led her to invest in the department’s programs and students. She endowed the Winterfeldt Community Nutrition Fund to help support research and travel expenses for full-time graduate students engaged in community/public health nutrition and/or healthy aging projects and the Winterfeldt Graduate Research Endowment Fund to support research conducted by students in the Nutritional Sciences graduate program. In addition, she has supported faculty through the Esther Winterfeldt Faculty Support Endowment Fund, which provides financial resources for faculty research and professional development opportunities in the Nutritional Sciences. 

Dr. Winterfeldt has a wealth of professional experience that she loves to share with students entering the field. She encourages students to make the most of educational opportunities provided to them — both inside and outside of the classroom. As a professional who invested in and benefited from the relationships she built over her career, she recommends that students get involved in professional organization and start early in developing their own professional networks.

Since the field is seemingly ever-changing as greater insight is gained in understanding nutrition, students should expect to face challenges and adapt to new realities as our knowledge advances. The key to progress in knowledge and improved health outcomes is innovation, generation, translation, and dissemination of evidence-based nutrition research and education.