Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Spring Semester 2026

Nutrition in the Life Cycle (Hybrid)

NFS 2020-30Y

Course: NFS 2020-30Y
Credits: 3
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Department: ASNS
CRN: 10072

Course Description

Application of nutrition principles to the human life cycle: nutrient functions, needs, sources, and alterations during pregnancy; lactation; growth; development; maturation; and aging. A minimum grade of "C" (2.0) or above must be earned in this course before it can be counted in a Human Nutrition major or minor or as a prerequisite for any other nutrition course. (Fall, Spring, Summer [As Needed) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): NFS 1020 - Prerequisite Min. Grade: C Registration Restriction(s): None

Required Texts

Recommended Text: 1.  Nutrition Through the Life Cycle 8th or 9th edition by Judith E. Brown 
 

Learning Outcomes

Course Objectives and Learning Objectives:

A.   Students will learn fundamental nutritional principles as well as gaining factual knowledge, (terminology, classifications, methods, and trends).

B.    Students will learn how to apply course material (to improve thinking, diet, and health). 


1.             Understand the role of nutrition and changes in nutritional requirements that occur during the life cycle in humans.  

2.             Discuss nutrient needs that change during each stage of the life cycle.

3.             Identify major areas of nutritional concern in each stage of the life cycle, including impact of physiological and developmental changes.

4.             Identify nutritional risk factors that may lead to chronic disease through case studies of individuals/families at various stages of the life cycle.

5.             Interpret research literature related to nutrition in the life cycle.

Course Requirements

Grading will be based on the following point breakdown:
Exam #1, 2, and Final 300 (each test is worth 100 pts.)
Audio class tour, syllabus, and calendar quiz assignment  25 pts.
Elderly Assignment 45 pts.
Infancy Quiz Assignment (no late work accepted for this assignment) 30 pts.
Quizzes  (7 quizzes taken on Canvas) 56 pts. (no late work accepted) (8 pts/quiz)
TOTAL 456 pts.

Grading Scale: (This is based on percent)
A > 93, A- > 90
B+ > 87, B > 83, B- > 80
C+ > 77, C > 73, C- > 70
D+ > 67, D > 63, D- > 60
F <60%

1.         Exams

            There will be three exams during the semester.  Exams will be taken on the dates scheduled in the syllabus. All exams will be taken in the testing center. Please note that all exam must be taken in SUU Testing Center. Online testing programs like Honorlock will not be used. Exams will be multiple choice. 

            You will not be allowed to take an exam after the scheduled date. If you cannot take the test on the scheduled date, you will need to make prior arrangements with me. You need to let me know at least a week in advance of the day that you want to take the exam. This will have to be done in email. In that email make sure to put the day you would like to take the exam and what section that you are in. Also, provide a reason why the test needs to be taken earlier. Do not email me more than one week before you need to take the exam. If your request is earlier than I can accommodate you then I may have to give you an older version of the exam. That older exam may not always reflect the material that we are covering. Sometimes I may not be able to accommodate your request.

Sometimes you cannot plan certain things happening which may affect you taking the exam on the scheduled day. For example, emergencies such as being admitted to the hospital, giving birth, etc. If this happens you may need to provide proof of the event and work with the DRC. If you are sick the day of an exam you must contact me as soon as possible and you must have proof from a doctor that you are too sick to attend

2.         Quiz assignment: This quiz assignment is described in Canvas in the module section. It is your responsibility to read it. Quizzes cannot be taken late for points. 

3.         Assignment: All your assignments will be described in Canvas. Warning: do not submit your assignments with the Canvas App, Canvas Support told me that it is not always reliable. Some assignments can be turned in late for reduced points. Late assignments will be penalized. Assignments that are not turned in by the due date are considered late, and a 30% reduction will be entailed. After three days, late assignments will not be accepted. The only assignments that can be turned in for late points are the Elderly assignment and Audio class tour, syllabus, how the quizzes work, and calendar quiz assignment. 

4.         Elderly assignment: This assignment must be typed, and answers need to be in blue font. The instructions are found in Canvas. The due dates for labs are listed in the calendar section. To find it, go to Canvas and look under the syllabus section or modules. This assignment is available early, so you have plenty of time to work on it ahead of time. The assignment must be turned in as a Word document. Assignments must stay in the same format. If an assignment is a minute late, it is late, so plan accordingly and give yourself plenty of time. Group work and the use of artificial intelligence on the assignment are not permitted. Doing such is considered cheating. More information on AI is found later in this syllabus.

5.         Audio class tour, syllabus, how the quizzes work, and calendar quiz assignment. I know that this is a long title for an assignment. The instructions for this assignment are found under quizzes. Please make sure to read the instructions carefully. This assignment is designed to help students understand how the class operates. Typically, those who take the quiz without reading appropriate material and listening to the audio tour do not do well on the quiz or in the class.

6.         Emailing me: I will respond to emails within 48 hours. If received on the weekend I will respond on Monday. Make sure to email me at schmidt@suu.edu not Canvas! If it is an emergency, I will try to contact you as fast as possible. Again, please do not contact me through Canvas. 

7.         Office hours: All my office hours are on Zoom. Here is the link for those office hours: 

            Monday and Wednesday office hours (11 am- 1 pm):https://suu-edu.zoom.us/j/83503118918?pwd=3qYqKpFvgLaCQEJ3WfaJ54miVX5NSc.1


            Read before attending office hours: You will be put into a waiting room when you enter. There may be others in front of you, and Zoom does not let you know that, so you just must be patient. I will get to you when I can.  There will be times that I will have to miss office hours due to other university commitments. This does not happen too often, but I apologize in advance. 

            After each exam, you cannot look over the older exams, just the one that was taken. For example, when you have taken exam 2, you can no longer look over exam 1. If you want to come in and look over your exam, you will need to email me 24 hours prior so that I can get it ready for you. Thanks.

Course Outline

Class dates: January 7th – April 23rd 
 
Assignments: (all of them are submitted on Canvas) 
• Audio class tour, syllabus, and calendar quiz assignment (this is found in Canvas under quizzes)
o January 10th 
• Infancy and Toddler quiz assignment (no late work accepted for this quiz)
o March 24th or 25th   
• Lab 2 Elderly
o April 13th  

Exams: 
• Exam 1 (Take exam on February 9th or 10th) SUU’s testing center
o Preconception Nutrition
o First part of pregnancy (PowerPoint Part One Pregnancy)
 All quizzes must be finished by February 8th before they close.
• Part 1 pregnancy quiz 
• Preconception quiz 
• Exam 2 (Take exam on March 18th or 19th) SUU’s testing center
o Second part of pregnancy (PowerPoint Part Two Pregnancy)
o Lactation/Breastfeeding Nutrition
 All quizzes must be finished by March 17th before they close.
• Part 2 pregnancy quiz 
• Lactation quiz 
• Exam 3 (Take exam on April 21st or 22nd) SUU’s testing center
o Childhood Nutrition
o Adolescents Nutrition
o Elderly Nutrition
 All quizzes must be finished by April 20th before they close.
• Childhood nutrition quiz 
• Adolescent nutrition quiz 
• Elderly nutrition quiz 


Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Quiz assignment: This quiz assignment is described in Canvas in the module section. It is your responsibility to read it. Quizzes cannot be taken late for points. 

Assignment: All your assignments will be described in Canvas. Warning: do not submit your assignments with the Canvas App, Canvas Support told me that it is not always reliable. Some assignments can be turned in late for reduced points. Late assignments will be penalized. Assignments that are not turned in by the due date are considered late, and a 30% reduction will be entailed. After three days, late assignments will not be accepted. The only assignments that can be turned in for late points are the Elderly assignment and Audio class tour, syllabus, how the quizzes work, and calendar quiz assignment. 

Attendance Policy

Attendance is not required; however, it is highly recommended. Grade in the class is highly correlated with attendance. 

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.