University of Georgia Athletics
Ketterly Named To Head UGA Sports Nutrition
September 01, 2011 | General
Sept. 1, 2011
ATHENS -- Jen Ketterly, sports nutrition director at the University of North Carolina, has been named Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of Georgia according to an announcement by UGA Director of Sports Medicine Ron Courson.
"We are excited about our sports nutrition program and the impact it will have on our overall athletic program," Courson said. "Jen Ketterly is one the top sports nutritionists in the country. Her training and experience have already benefitted our student-athletes in the short amount of time she has been here."
Alongside a full-time assistant and three interns, Ketterly manages nutrition education, writes individual performance nutrition plans, monitors body composition, evaluates nutritional supplements, plans pre-game and travel meals and much more. Ketterly specifically is responsible for supervising the nutrition care of UGA's football, basketball, volleyball and women's golf programs.
"I'm ecstatic to be hired as the first director of sports nutrition and thrilled at the opportunity to build a first-class sports nutrition department in an athletic department with inspiring leadership and high-quality philosophies on competing and supporting student-athletes," Ketterly said. "The opportunity to establish a sports nutrition program here is second to none. The athletic department and university have all the ingredients for a gold medal recipe.
"The positive, energetic culture of the athletic department, coupled with well known Nutrition and Exercise Science academic departments and a phenomenal Campus Food Services operation, all factor into one of the best opportunities in the country to feed and fuel championship athletes."
Since 2003, Ketterly has served in numerous capacities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the most recent being director of sports nutrition. In this role, Ketterly oversaw all aspects of the Tarheels' sports nutrition program, such as nutritional services and education, football training tables, and departmental nutritional supplement programs and purchases. Along with this, Ketterly started serving as an Advisory Board member and Registered Dietitian at UNC's Center for Retired NFL Athletes, and will continue this role while at UGA.
Ketterly worked in a similar position at the University of Connecticut's Student Health Services and Department of Athletics from 2000-03. As nutrition coordinator/sports nutritionist, Ketterly counseled students, student-athletes and teams and assisted with training tables. She also founded the University of Connecticut Sport Nutrition Network.
In 1999, Ketterly was a program assistant for the University of Kentucky Wellness Program where she worked with all aspects of the statewide-distance programming, which covers all of the satellite, community and technical campuses in the UK system, and assisted in planning wellness days and health screenings.
Outside of her professional work, Ketterly has experience in teaching, publication and research. At almost every place she has worked, Ketterly has either been a lecturer, guest lecturer, instructor or preceptor. She has published book chapters and articles, researched various topics and presented at multiple conferences and meetings.
A varsity basketball player at Cornell University, Ketterly graduated in 1998 with a bachelor's in Nutritional Science. The St. Albans, W. Va., native earned her master's in Clinical Nutrition/Sports Nutrition in 2000 from the University of Kentucky while completing her dietetic internship at UK's Chandler Medical Center. Ketterly is a Registered Dietitian through the American Dietetic Association and a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics.
