Dr. Cheryl Achterberg

Dr. Cheryl Achterberg graduated in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. She earned a master’s in human development, majoring in nutrition, from the University of Maine at Orono in 1981 and a Ph.D. in nutrition from Cornell University in 1986. Achterberg is a leading scholar in nutrition education and behavior interventions. She was one of 13 experts chosen to serve on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for American Scientific Advisory Committee, whose findings are used by the federal government to determine national food policy. Achterberg has served as the dean at three land-grant institutions. She was the founding dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State University, the inaugural dean of the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University and most recently served as dean for the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Achterberg has published numerous research papers and has been acknowledged for her contributions in the field of nutrition with the 1993 Mead Johnson Award for Research in Nutrition from the American Institute of Nutrition and the 2015 Helen Denning Ullrich Award of Excellence from the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. She has also been elevated to Fellow of the Culinary Institute of America. Achterberg is the founder of the Dannon Institute Academic Mid-Career Nutrition Leadership Institute, a program designed to support leadership needs for nutrition faculty who completed their terminal degree training 10-20 years prior.