J.A. Fischer

Innovation and Collaboration: Creating a Transdisciplinary Childhood Obesity Prevention Graduate Certificate Program

Preparing future professionals to work in transdisciplinary settings with a skill set to effectively foster collaborations and sustainable change requires a thoughtful and concerted interprofessional education approach. Through an interuniversity partnership in 2010 with South Dakota State University (SDSU), Brookings, SD, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Lincoln, NE, a group of faculty convened to propose the Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention (TOP) graduate certificate program. With funding supported by a United States (US) Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant in 2011, a team of faculty from SDSU and UNL representing various disciplines (exercise science, nutrition, dietetics, health promotion, public health, nursing, early childhood education, family and consumer sciences, biology, biostatistics, and counseling) began developing the TOP graduate certificate program which is currently in its 5th year. The primary goal of this report is to outline the overall framework and components of the TOP graduate certificate program, providing information, strategies, and considerations other institutions can apply in developing effective and sustainable transdisciplinary, interprofessional education to their existing graduate programs. Received: 11/28/2016 Accepted: 01/11/2017