CHHS Staff

Dr. Danita Kelley is an Associate Dean of the College of Health and Human Services.  Previously, Dr. Kelley served as the Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics within the Hospitality Management and Dietetics program at Western Kentucky University for sixteen years and as the college Assessment Coordinator for four years.  A Professor with the Department of Applied Human Sciences, Dr. Kelley has taught a variety of courses, including human nutrition, advanced nutrition, medical nutrition therapy, and dietary supplements.  Dr. Kelley earned a BS in Biology from Centre College, an MS in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of Kentucky, and a PhD in Nutritional Science from the University of Kentucky.  Additionally, Dr. Kelley completed the coordinated program in dietetics at the University of Kentucky, and has been a registered dietitian for over twenty years.  Dr. Kelley has served on the Board of Directors for the Kentucky Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in numerous positions, including Past-President, President, and Secretary.  She has also served as Chair and Secretary of the Biochemistry and Physiology section of the Kentucky Academy of Sciences.  Dr. Kelley is published in The Journal of Nutrition, The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, and the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.  Scholarly presentations and publications have included the topics of incentivizing healthy eating among adolescents, assessing communication skills in dietetic students, nutritional care in diabetes mellitus, histaminergic activity and the regulation of food intake, and dietary restriction and the antioxidant defense system.  Dr. Kelley is the coauthor of Wardlaw’s Perspectives in Nutrition, 10^th edition, and Wardlaw’s Perspectives in Nutrition: A Functional Approach, 1^st edition.  Dr. Kelley has been involved with grant activities funded by the Kentucky Department of Education and by the Institute of Medicine, and she has won awards for teaching from the Kentucky Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and from the Nutrition and Dietetic Educators of Practitioners of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Joined Applied Human Sciences in 1994

Received Ph. D. from University of Kentucky