POHA-Denver Diversify Nutrition scholarship and/or stipend

POHA-Denver is a grant housed within the Department of Nutrition at Metropolitan State University of Denver that supports the POHA-Denver Diversify Nutrition scholarships and stipends for MSU Denver nutrition graduate students. The overall goal of the POHA-Denver grant is to address the need in the United States and state of Colorado for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) who are culturally diverse. POHA-Denver’s primary objectives are to increase the number and success of students who come from minoritized backgrounds to enroll in and succeed in post baccalaureate dietetics degree programs and to increase efforts to grow faculty, staff, student and practitioner knowledge on diversity and cultural intelligence. Students of all backgrounds are eligible and encouraged to apply for the POHA-Denver scholarship. More information about the POHA-Denver grant can be found here: https://www.msudenver.edu/nutrition/diversity/poha-denver-diversify-nutrition-grant/in and on the MSU Denver Department of Nutrition website.(www.msudenver.edu/nutrition)

Scholarship and stipend recipients are required to attend workshops and seminars tied to the POHA-Denver grant efforts and to maintain satisfactory progress within the nutrition graduate program. Failure to maintain satisfactory progress as outlined by the program guidelines will result in removal from the scholarship and stipend program. Student’s must have a FAFSA and a complete file with the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships to be considered for this opportunity.

*Please note that students are typically awarded a maximum of one year of the POHA scholarship and one year of the POHA stipend. Previous recipients are still encouraged to apply and will be considered.

Example Schedule of POHA events:

January 21st Nutrition Meet and Greet 2:00 pm
January 24th Opening Welcome Back to POHA 4:00 pm
January 27th Jon Padia, MS, RDN – Professional Research Associate 4:00 pm
February 1st Melissa Fusters, PhD- Associate Professor, Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences 4:00 pm
February 28th Peer Mentor Event 4:00 pm
April 11th Financial Literacy Part III- Loans/scholarships 4:00 pm

For full scholarship consideration, please answer all of the following questions:

Award
$5,000 ($2,500 per term) for scholarship and/or stipend award other non-monetary benefits may be available
Scopes
Nutrition - Dietetics
Deadline
04/30/2023
Supplemental Questions
  1. POHA-Denver Diversify Nutrition
    • A. Are you currently an undergraduate student at MSU Denver?
    • B. Were you previously an undergraduate student at MSU Denver?
    • C. What languages other than English do you speak, and please describe your level of proficiency
    • D. Are you a first-generation college student?
    • E. Why do you think diversity is needed (important) in the nutrition and dietetics profession?
    • F. Please describe how you could contribute to enhancing diversity within the nutrition graduate programs at MSU Denver and within the nutrition and dietetics profession.
    • G. Describe your cultural life experiences and how they align with the goals and objectives of the POHA-Denver grant.
    • H. How do you intend to use this scholarship if awarded?
    • I. If you were a POHA scholar previously, what would you hope to gain from another year as a POHA scholar?
    • J. How will attending the POHA required workshops, events, and advising sessions impact your educational experience? For reference, please see an example of a typical POHA event schedule in the scholarship description above.
  2. The POHA-Denver grant provides both scholarship and stipend opportunities for students. POHA-Denver Diversify Nutrition stipends are tied to graduate research assistant positions in the Department of Nutrition. Research assistants provide support for study design, data collection, data entry, report writing and other various research tasks related to the POHA grant goals. Research assistants must demonstrate leadership and self-starter characteristics. The Department of Nutrition also employs graduate students as teaching assistants but through another application avenue. For questions about teaching assistant opportunities, please contact gradnutrition@msudenver.edu. The following application is ONLY for graduate research assistant positions. Graduate research assistants for POHA-Denver typically work 10-20 hours per week and are paid a stipend for their work ($5,000 per academic year or $2,500 per term). In order to qualify for a graduate research assistant position, you must also fill out the above scholarship questions.
    • A. Would you like to fill out an additional application to be considered for a graduate assistant stipend position? (Please note that this application is only for grant funded stipend graduate assistant positions. There is a separate application process for hourly work study graduate assistant positions. You may apply to both types of graduate assistant positions, grant funded stipend or hourly work study, but you will only be selected for one. In addition, current dietetic interns are not eligible for graduate assistant positions.)
    • B. Why do you want to be a research assistant for the POHA program?
    • C. Please describe your research interests as they relate to the topic of diversity in the field of nutrition and dietetics
    • E. Please describe your other areas of research interest.
    • F. What skills or experience do you have related to research that will help you excel at this position? Please provide at least one specific example demonstrating your skills or experience.