HIGHER EDUCATION DR. CURTIS WELLER UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN Curtis Weller grew up in rural downstate Illinois, surrounded by row crop farms and working in his grandfather’s grocery store. That experience taught him a lot about food and its merchandising from an early age, but his introduction to the scientific study of food would come when he left for college. Weller earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food science and a Ph.D. in agricultural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He says the timing of his college studies in the 1970s — when the nation faced the twin economic challenges of high inflation and high unemployment — influenced his choice of an academic and career field. “I said, ‘People have always got to eat, so I might as well get a job in the food industry,’” Curtis recalls Weller, who heads the Food Science and Weller Technology Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In the research lab, Weller has conducted studies on topics like the development of grain sorghum lipids as nutraceuticals, which are foods or food parts with health benefits. He notes that there’s an ongoing debate within the food science and nutrition world about whether it’s more beneficial to extract those com-pounds for use as additives to other foods or to consume them in their original form. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is at the forefront of a trend that has food science departments collaborating with medical schools to better understand gut health, Weller says. “We are one that is probably leading in terms of being able to understand what’s going on in the gut microbiome,” he says. While Weller has shifted from a faculty to an administrative role in higher education, he’s considering either returning to the classroom part time or doing some online interactive workshops. “The thing I’ve always enjoyed is the students — getting to know the students and seeing them graduate and go off and contribute in the food industry,” he says. DR. FELECIA NAVE ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY As a student at Alcorn State University, Felecia Nave never dreamed she’d one day return to the institution as its 20th president. “At that time, I was only thinking that I was going to be some big executive in industry,” says Nave, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Alcorn. “But as fate would have it, I ended up in higher education. The opportunity to come back and serve in a place that meant so much in my own development, both personally and academically, is extremely rewarding.” Nave has been busy implementing several new projects at the university, which has its flagship campus in Lorman, Mississippi, and branches in Natchez and Vicksburg. Among the programs are student health and wellness initiatives targeting women and African American males, the university’s participation in a multi-institution regional innovation center, and a 10-year master plan. Nave, who has a master's degree in chemical and environmental engineering and a doctorate in engineering from the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, says her experi-ences as a student intern influenced her decision to switch her career path from industry to academia. “In my internships, I was typically one of a few women but most often the only African American in the room,” says Nave, who has spent her career at his-torically Black colleges and universities. “Whereas I probably would have made it — I have good interpersonal skills — I just didn’t want to spend my life having to navigate that type of environment.” Now, as a university president, she says that of all the facets of her role, the one she relishes most is being around students. Felecia “I get genuinely excited to work with Nave students whose eyes just beam with excitement and expectation — and who have not been fully tainted by some of the things they’re going to come across in life,” she says. “They are still so very hopeful.” I get GENUINELY excited to work with students whose eyes just beam with excitement and expectation — and who have not been fully tainted by some of the things they’re going to come across in life. They are still so very HOPEFUL.” — DR. FELECIA NAVE 46 Diversity in Action | FALL 2021 PHOTOS: LEFT COURTESY OF CURTIS WELLER; RIGHT COURTESY OF FELECIA NAVE