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Sister Mary Alan Stuart’s career is a portrait of expanded opportunities for service and responsibility with each new step of education. She is also a portrait of the educational vision her parents instilled in their seven children. Though technically retired, she continues to serve as a volunteer dietitian to the Appalachian Outreach Nutrition Services she created and as a member of the Advisory Board for the St. Joseph HealthCare Continuing Care Hospital in Lexington, KY.
After high school graduation, Sister Mary joined the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, MI, a teaching order of Catholic Sisters that ministers throughout the United States and overseas in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Armed with a certificate in elementary education, Sister taught in Catholic elementary schools in Illinois and Florida. In 1962, she began a 17 year career as a math, chemistry, physics and biology teacher, as assigned, in Florida, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, after completing coursework for both a BS and MS in science at Siena Heights University.
The winds of change in the late 1960's also shook religious orders in the United States. Not only did the traditional religious habit change, but sisters were encouraged to move into non-traditional outreaches which focused not only on education, but also on issues related to poverty, health and ecology. In 1979, she came to Purdue, completing her PhD in Human Nutrition in 1983. After completing a two-year post-doctoral experience at the U.S.D.A. Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, ND, Sister became the director of the Coordinated Undergraduate Program (CUP) in Dietetics at the University of Kentucky. But in 1992, moved by need in her state, Sister decided to take yet another step in her career.
Lack of medically-related support services in the Appalachian region of Kentucky drew her and she approached the local Catholic Hospital with a proposal for a nutrition outreach program. With a promise of five years of initial support from her religious order, she planned and implemented a nutrition outreach service to six rural counties. Monthly, as needed, she cycled through each clinic averaging over 1,000 miles/month. Patients received nutrition counseling for their diabetes, heart disease, hypertension or other nutrition problems. Health Fairs, school nutrition programs, talks to senior citizens and mentoring students filled up the other hours.
She has numerous publications, served on state committees and has won many community service awards, from Consumer and Family Sciences, Bluegrass District of the Kentucky Dietetic Association and the Kentucky Beef Council. She was name Outstanding Dietitian of the Year by both the Kentucky Dietetic Association and the Bluegrass District in the same year. She was chosen as a Distinguished Alumni of CFS in 2008. Sister Mary endowed the Arthur and Cecilia Stuart Memorial Scholarship in Dietetics in 2005, in honor of her parents and their emphasis on education. When children in her family dreamed of what they would do when they grew up, Mr. Stuart always said, "You might think of doing that after you finish college." The emphasis they placed on education was the greatest gift they could give their children. Sister Mary has proven them correct!
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