Honors College Fellow to Represent University of Arkansas at SEC Symposium

Photo by University Relations

Grace Heymsfield

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Grace Heymsfield, an Honors College Fellow at the University of Arkansas, is one of 14 students from Southeastern Conference institutions who will serve as University Ambassadors for the 2014 SEC Symposium.

The SEC Symposium, titled “Prevention of Obesity: Overcoming a 21st Century Public Health Challenge,” will be held September 21-23 in Atlanta.

The SEC Symposium is designed to address a significant scholarly issue utilizing the range of disciplines represented by the SEC’s 14 member universities. University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart is currently serving as vice president of the SEC and is the liaison to SECU, the SEC’s academic initiative.

Heymsfield, from Elkins, Arkansas, is majoring in food, human nutrition and hospitality in the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences. Heymsfield interned at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in 2012 and plans to become a registered dietitian nutritionist. She is also an All-American, NCAA champion and SEC champion distance runner for the Razorbacks.

“I was approached by my professors with the opportunity to attend the symposium because of my involvement with the Honors College on our campus,” Heymsfield said. “I did my honors thesis on nutrition knowledge of high school students in our area with an emphasis on nutrition education and the potential impact on childhood obesity.”

University Ambassadors play a critical role in the SEC Symposium in a number of support roles.

“There is a lot the ambassadors can glean from the SEC Symposium,” SECU Executive Director Torie Johnson said. “It is a time for undergraduate students to interact with the graduate students that they aspire to become and to interact with presenters, some of whom they are familiar with and others they have read about.”

Heymsfield is the daughter of Ernest and Carol Heymsfield. Her father is an associate professor in civil engineering at the University of Arkansas, and she aspires to work in higher education. 

“I have always been interested in nutrition education,” Heymsfield said. “I think there can be a lot more done about nutrition education efforts.”

The opportunity for collaboration, exposure to industry professionals and interacting with other University Ambassadors are all things Heymsfield is looking forward to. The cross-disciplinary nature of the event will allow students to meet and share ideas with professionals and fellow students in a broad range of academic areas.

“It’s an appropriate topic nationwide and definitely something that’s very relevant to all of the schools in the SEC,” Heymsfield said. “I’m looking forward to hearing about all of the different research. I’m going in with an open mind and I’m excited to learn.”