Center for Families

Barbara Mayfield is a nutrition educator specializing in helping children and families build healthy relationships with food and each other.

Mayfield serves the Purdue family as a continuing lecturer in the Department of Foods and Nutrition. She teaches F&N 424, a capstone course in which seniors learn how to effectively communicate their knowledge of foods and nutrition to the public and their professional peers.

As president of Noteworthy Creations Inc., a company she founded in 1992, Mayfield develops nutrition-education resources and writes, consults, and speaks about nutrition concerns of children and families. She has written books and curriculum for preschool through college-age youth. She is best known for teaching nutrition through music, which has earned her the nickname "The Singing Dietitian." 

Mayfield spent 20 years serving Hoosier families as a nutrition educator, breastfeeding coordinator, and program coordinator for a local WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) program and 15 years working as an early intervention nutrition specialist with Indiana's First Steps program.

Despite juggling a busy work schedule, Mayfield enjoys meals with her family almost every day thanks to the support of her husband, Joe, and their three children: Jenny, Joey, and Christopher. The Mayfields are a Boilermaker family. Barb, Joe, and Jenny are alums; Joey is a Purdue student; and Christopher anticipates coming to Purdue in 2009.

Contact Information
Barbara Mayfield, MS, RD
Department of Foods and Nutrition
Stone Hall, Room 209 
700 W. State Street 
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059
Phone: (765) 496-2952
Fax: (765) 494-0674
E-mail: bmayfield@purdue.edu