Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Summer Semester 2026

Scientific Foundations of Human Nutrition (Online)

NFS 1020-30I

Course: NFS 1020-30I
Credits: 3
Term: Summer Semester 2026
Department: ASNS
CRN: 20012

Course Description

An introduction to the science of nutrition and the relationship of food intake and health. Nutrient requirements and food selection are discussed. Students evaluate their own food intake and eating behaviors and learn to be informed consumers of food and nutrition information. This is a three-credit course. This section is fully online, asynchronous.

Required Texts

The online book by Cengage and the DWP tool for the dietary assessment are required. Both can be accessed in the Inclusive Access Course Materials tab (on the left column in Canvas). You have the textbook and DWP tool automatically unless you opt out.

Textbook:
Nutrition: Concepts & Controversies
ISBN: 9798214349701
By: Frances Sizer; Ellie Whitney

DWP Tool (Diet and Wellness Plus):
NFS.1020 - Diet and Wellness Plus
ISBN: 9781285856216R180
By: McGuire/Beerman/Dunford/D...

If you have trouble accessing the materials, please reach out to bookstore@suu.edu. If you want a hard copy of the textbook, please contact the bookstore.

Learning Outcomes

  • Increase knowledge of the science of nutrition with a greater understanding of the relationship between food and health
  • Become familiar with the nutrient requirements of the human body, factors affecting those requirements, and current advancements being made in this area
  • Apply nutrition information by selecting and evaluating a nutritious food intake
  • Interpret information on nutrition labels & use, along with other nutrition tools, to evaluate diets
  • Identify reputable sources of nutrition information & distinguish between reliable & unreliable information

Course Requirements

Assignment Outline: The specific schedule and due dates are provided in Canvas. Most assignments and exams are due on Fridays at 5 pm.

Exams (40%): There are four exams. All questions will be multiple-choice or True/False. The system will automatically drop your lowest score. Exams are remotely proctored. SUU uses software called Proctorio. You must download this software before taking the test. Once you do this, it will be set for the following exams. Here are the instructions for Proctorio and how to download it: https://suu.instructure.com/courses/1031162. Please reach out to the Canvas support team if you have any questions. Your lowest exam will be dropped (Canvas does this automatically).

Final Exam (15%): This is required and will be a cumulative exam plus module 5 (chapters 13-15).

Assignments (20%): These will reinforce concepts discussed in class and allow you to make real-life connections with the material. There are about 1-2 assignments per module.

Dietary Analysis (25%): This is a fun project in which you analyze your diet and activity level. This assignment (DA) will be in 2 parts.

  1. Recording Your Diet
  2. Analysis of Your Diet
  3. Creating an Ideal Day

Discussion Forum (15%): There is generally one discussion forum per module.

Grading Policy
ItemWeight
Discussion posts (5)15%
Assignments (5)20%
DA (2 parts)25%
Exams (4)40%
Final exam15%
Total100%

You will earn a final letter grade based on the following criteria: see the grading policy below. Please review your graded assignments regularly and let me know if you have any questions.

Incomplete Grades: A grade of Incomplete (I) may be given at the discretion of the instructor to a student who has been unable to complete the course requirements due to a serious interruption not caused by the student’s negligence. Letter grades of “A” through “F” (course final grade) will be awarded based on the following:

Our assignments are weighted

ItemWeight
Discussion posts (5)15%
Assignments (5)20%
DA (2 parts)25%
Exams (4)40%
Final exam15%
Total100%

Percentages for grades are as follows:

  • 100-94.0 - A
  • 93.5-90.0 - A-
  • 89.5-87.0 - B+
  • 86.5-84.0 - B
  • 83.5-80.0 - B-
  • 79.5-77.0 - C+
  • 76.5-74.0 - C
  • 73.5-70.0 - C-
  • 69.5-67.0 - D+
  • 66.5-64.0 - D
  • 63.5-60.0 - D-
  • 59.5 – 0 - F

Course Outline

WEEK (dates)TOPICSREADINGSASSIGNMENTS
5/11 - 5/17Chapters 1 & 2Intro meme 5/15
Syllabus quiz 5/15
Module 1 posts 5/15
5/18 - 5/24Chapters 1-3Food labels 5/22
Exam 1 due 5/22
5/25 - 5/31Macro nutrientsChapters 4-5Module 2 posts due 5/29
Low-carb diet due 5/29
DA Part 1 due 5/29
6/1 - 6/7" "Chapters 4-6EXAM 2: due 6/7
6/8 - 6/14Micronutrients + waterChapters 7-9Module 3 posts due 6/12
Supplements due 6/12
DA Part 2 due 6/12
6/15 - 6/21" "Chapters 10 -11Exam 3 due 6/19
6/22 - 6/26 LAST WEEK OF CLASS - COMPLETE ALL WORK BY FRIDAY AT 5:00 PM." "Chapters 10-12Module 4 posts due 6/26
RT is Medicine due 6/26
DA Part 3 due 6/26
Exam 4 due 6/26

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

Late work is not accepted in this course without legitimate medical or emergency documentation. In addition, best efforts must be made to notify the instructor before the due date if possible.

Please note that contacting the instructor before a due date does not guarantee an extension. It will be determined based on the nature of the need for an extension. Please note that work schedules, other course deadlines/schedules, technology issues/errors, submission/upload errors, and lack of access to technology devices and/or software are not legitimate excuses.

LATE/MAKE-UP WORK:

Late Work: Work turned in late will receive a zero. Most assignment due dates are Friday at 5 PM. Work that is not legible will receive a ZERO. You are required to TYPE your assignments on a computer. No handwritten assignments will be accepted.

Makeup Work or In-Class Activities: No make-ups for exams, labs, and in-class activities without medical or equivalent (e.g., school excused) reasons under extreme circumstances.

Under extreme circumstances (e.g., COVID, illness), arrangements for make-up should be made with the instructor within a week of the missed class or exam.

In case of school-excused activities, arrangements for making up in-class work must be made before the date of absence. According to Policy 6.30, you must inform the instructor of the dates you will miss class due to school-related activities before the anticipated absence. For activities whose schedules are known before the start of the semester, you must provide the instructors with a written schedule during the first week of the semester showing the days you expect to miss class. For other university-excused absences, you must provide the earliest advanced written notice of the classes you will miss.

School-excused event: Arrangements for making up an exam or assignment must be made before the date of absence. According to Policy 6.30 (http://www.suu.edu/pub/policies/pdf/PP630Excused.pdf ), you must inform the instructor of the dates you will miss class due to the school-related activities before the anticipated absence. For activities whose schedules are known before the start of the semester, you must provide the instructors a written schedule during the first week of the semester showing days you expect to miss class. For other university excused absences, you must provide the instructor the earliest advanced notice of the classes you will miss. You will be responsible for the material you miss during your excused absence.

Attendance Policy

ATTENDANCE HYBRID: Although attendance is not required, it will behoove you to attend class. That being said, it's required to be ON TIME for class. Being late for class is disruptive to the class and is unacceptable.

ATTENDANCE ONLINE: Although the course is self-paced, I would stay on top of the material to ensure success.

Course Fees

This is an all inclusive course. Your fees will include an e-book and access to the Dietary Wellness Plan (DWP) application.

Response Time & Feedback

Prerequisites

None

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.