Spectrum - Volume 20 Issue 07 October 9, 1997 - Woteki subject will be nutrition

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Woteki subject will be nutrition

By Sandy Broughton

Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 07 - October 9, 1997

Catherine Woteki, undersecretary of agriculture for food safety with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will deliver an Outstanding Alumni Lecture Tuesday, Oct. 21, as part of Tech's 125th Anniversary Celebration. Woteki will speak on "Food is Practically the Whole Story Every Time." Woteki's presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the DBHCC auditorium, with a reception, sponsored by the College of Human Resources and Education, following in the Commonwealth Dining Room. The public is invited to attend.
Woteki is a graduate of the College of Human Resources and Education at Virginia Tech, having earned her master's and doctoral degrees in Human Nutrition and Foods. As Undersecretary of Agriculture for Food Safety, Woteki oversees the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which is the public health agency responsible for ensuring that meat and poultry products are safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled.
Woteki was named to her current position by President Bill Clinton last spring and was confirmed in August. She had held the position of deputy under secretary for research, education, and economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this capacity, Woteki was responsible for the management of four agencies: the Agricultural Research Service; the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; the Economic Research Service; and the National Agricultural Statistics Service. She led the administration's implementation of the 1996 Farm Bill's provisions on research and education.
From 1994 to 1995, Woteki served as the deputy to the associate director for science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She was the deputy director of the Division of Health and Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1983 to 1990. From 1980 to 1983, Woteki was the acting associate administrator of the Human Nutrition Information Service and served as leader of the Food and Diet Appraisal Research Group in the Consumer Nutrition Information Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Woteki received a B.S. in biology and chemistry from Mary Washington College, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in human nutrition from Virginia Tech. She was selected outstanding alumna of the College of Human Resources at Virginia Tech in 1987.
Woteki has published extensively in the area of food, nutrition policy, and nutrition monitoring. During her tenure as director of the Food and Nutrition Board, she directed studies that resulted in 20 publications by the Institute of Medicine.
Woteki has received the Elijah White Award of the National Center for Health Statistics, the Special Recognition Award from the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Staff Achievement Award of the Institute of Medicine.