Alumni Notes
McDietitian: Cindy Goody By Tina Owen |
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Ask Cindy Goody how she feels about her career, and she could well say, “I’m lovin’ it.” Goody (PhD ‘00/MBA ’08), is director of nutrition for McDonald’s USA, purveyor of millions of McNuggets, McMuffins, and more. Although some people might find the concept of a fast food dietitian incongruous, Goody points out that Happy Meals have a place in a well-balanced diet. “All foods fit into a balanced, healthy lifestyle,” she says, adding that McDonald’s menu variety and ingredient information help patrons make informed food and beverage choices. Goody’s work under the Golden Arches represents her latest efforts to educate people about the importance of balanced eating. “Nutrition is the science of how our bodies use food to contribute to health,” she explains. “As a registered dietitian, I have an opportunity to translate that science so that consumers can use it to improve their health and well-being.” Growing up in Iowa during the 1980s farm crisis, Goody made a pragmatic decision to pursue an undergraduate degree in nutrition from Iowa State University. “I knew that as long as people had to eat, I’d have a job,” she says. Her safe career choice led to a variety of opportunities, including working as a retail and clinical dietitian for Hy-Vee Foods, as an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Cincinnati, and as a clinical dietitian at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City. She even volunteered with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. She joined McDonald’s in 2008 and says she enjoys combining her expertise in nutrition and business to help develop, brand, and market new products. Although she now lives in Chicago and works for one of the world’s most famous corporations, Goody hasn’t forgotten her roots. Grateful for the opportunities afforded by her UI education, she says, “I’ll always be an Iowa girl.” This article originally appeared in Iowa Alumni Magazine, published by the UI Alumni Association. |
2000s
Rachael Ayers (BA ‘00, MA ‘04) is working toward her doctorate in Art Education and has been an art teacher at Southeast
Junior High in Iowa City for nine years. She was frustrated by often seeing her students out in public either getting into trouble or drawing a negative reaction from strangers just by being themselves. “It’s not them, it’s us,” she said.
Last summer, she devised a volunteer art project for six of her African American students to help them learn some new skills, practice working together, and to give them a positive way to spend their time.
One of the students, Olabisi Kovabel, said she was excited to give up part of her summer vacation to work on the mural. Over three weeks, Ayers and her students created a mural illustrating unfair stereotyping and racial profiling of African American teens in the local community. The mural was unveiled at the Friday Night Concert Series in downtown Iowa City and temporarily displayed at Southeast Junior High.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for me to do something I’ve never done before,” she said.
Another student, Reggie Bolden, said he joined the group because he’s “into art.”
In addition to working on the mural, Ayers took her students to the United Action for Youth Center to introduce them to the nonprofit organization as a safe, positive place to hang out.
The mural project was a trial run for Ayers’s dissertation, which she’ll begin working on in spring 2011. Her plan is to lead students in another volunteer group project. This time she’s thinking of a construction or gardening project, to help the students learn skills they may be able to apply in a future job.
“I want it to be skill building for them and also connection building, so they would get abilities in different ways than in a classroom setting and see how they apply,” Ayers said.
