Thiel College Launches the Region’s Only Nutrition Degree Program
- Shari Berg
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
Natalie Grow remembers when Allegheny Health Network had four primary care dietitians. That was 2020. Today there are 14, but the pace of hiring has not slowed the shortage.
“Each hire is getting harder and harder,” said Grow, a registered dietitian, certified diabetes care and education specialist, and dietitian supervisor for AHN’s primary care and pediatrics division. “Our profession is about preventing chronic diseases that are rampant — diabetes, heart disease, obesity. And preventing complications from these diseases if you already have them.”
That gap is precisely what Thiel College is moving to close.
This spring, Thiel’s Board of Trustees approved the launch of a Bachelor of Science in nutrition, with students enrolling beginning in the fall of 2026. The board also approved a Master of Science in nutrition and dietetics, expected to open in 2027 pending accreditation.
There are few nutrition programs in western Pennsylvania, and Thiel’s program is the only nutrition degree along the Interstate 79 college corridor between Pittsburgh and Erie. It’s a distinction that gives the small liberal arts school in Greenville, something significant to build on.
The new Bachelor of Science offers two pathways: a traditional four-year track or an accelerated three-year option launching in Fall 2027. The curriculum is grounded in human biology, food science, metabolism, and nutrition across the lifespan, with an emphasis on experiential learning and internship preparation.
Partnerships with UPMC are already in place for the internship component, and Katheryn E. Willey, program director of the Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, has reached out to private practices as well.
Three career tracks are embedded in the degree: clinical nutrition, food service management, and community-based care. Grow, who manages a team of 13 dietitians across the AHN footprint, sees urgent demand across all three, but said no track can succeed without strong foundational training.Willey agrees.
“You have to know the basic food practices to know which medications can’t be taken with something,” Willey said. “You can’t take lithium with sodium, or Synthroid with food. You have to understand how these things interact before you can help a patient.”
Grow emphasized that the clinical track carries regulatory weight as well as patient-care stakes. Hospitals are required under Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines to have registered dietitians on staff, meaning vacancies create compliance pressure on top of care gaps.
Meanwhile, the community-based track addresses a problem Grow sees daily: patients turning to social media for nutritional guidance.
“Everything we’re providing is evidence-based,” she said. “Social media influencers offer blanket-statement advice that can be detrimental if someone isn’t factoring in their other medical conditions and medications.”
Medicare and Medicaid cover nutritional counseling only in limited circumstances. Patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease qualify, as do those with prediabetes who enroll in a certified diabetes prevention program. Everyone else pays out of pocket or goes without.
Grow said the field is actively lobbying to change that. Advocacy efforts around obesity coverage through Medicare are ongoing, but progress is slow.
The consequences fall hardest on patients who could benefit from early intervention.
“If we can get to them prior to getting a diagnosis, we can impact long-term health care spend,” Grow said. “But right now, that window is mostly uninsured.”
Willey shares that urgency and has built it into her long-term vision for the program. She wants to establish a free clinic serving patients on Medicare and Medicaid who would otherwise go without nutritional care, along with a community garden connected to a local food bank.
It is an ambitious target for a program still finding its footing. But Willey, who grew up in West Middlesex, has spent her career building things in places where need outpaced supply.
“You get to see all your hard work translate into not just the college and the students, but you get to see that change where you grew up,” she said.
The coming master’s program reflects a structural shift in dietetics. To sit for the registered dietitian exam, candidates must now hold a master’s degree before completing a supervised internship.
The added credential requirement has raised the bar for entry into the profession.
Grow acknowledged the trade-off. While the master’s requirement strengthens the profession’s credibility, it also creates a financial and time burden that may discourage candidates.
“Adding the master’s to the professional requirements can be a barrier for some people who would want to go into this field,” she said.
Willey designed the M.S. to address that concern directly. The program will be competency-based and accelerated, built to move students through the requirements efficiently and get them into the workforce faster.
“We’re doing the accelerated program to get people into well-paying jobs faster,” she said.
Grow endorsed the approach.
“If the student wants to take a fast path, they might as well,” she said. “Get in the field faster, and make an impact in the community sooner. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
For Grow, perhaps the most promising element of Thiel’s program is the clinical partnership infrastructure Willey has built before the first class has enrolled.
“It’s instrumental,” Grow said. “If you don’t have those partnerships, it wouldn’t be successful. Most dietitians want to share their knowledge.”
She sees internship pipelines as more than a credentialing requirement. They are a bridge between a graduate’s training and the kind of covered, reimbursed roles that make careers sustainable and communities healthier.
“When programs like this come up, there’s a wonderful opportunity to lend itself to community-based things,” Grow said. “Students are learning, and it’s bringing jobs to the community.”
The Bachelor of Science in nutrition at Thiel College is open for enrollment beginning in Fall 2026. For information, contact the Department of Nutrition at kwilley@thiel.edu or 724-589-2007.
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