º£½ÇÖ±²¥

Biography

Dr. Jesse Lunsford, PhD, RDN, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Denver, where he also serves as Assistant Chair and Graduate Director, overseeing the MS in Nutrition program. He is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and holds a PhD in Health Sciences from Rush University, an MS in Dietetics from North Dakota State University, a BS in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Denver, and a BA in Speech Communication from Colorado State University.

Dr. Lunsford has taught in the Department of Nutrition since 2017, across courses including Global Nutrition & Health, Management in Dietetics, Food Systems, and Nutrition and the Community: Equity, Inclusion, and Access. He created NUT 2060, Nutrition, Food, and Social Justice in the United States, a general-studies course carrying an Ethnic Studies & Social Justice designation. He chairs the Department of Nutrition Curriculum Committee and serves on the university’s Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee.

His research examines food access and equity in the nutrition and dietetics profession, including studies on the availability and pricing of food in Denver grocery stores and on students’ sense of belonging in nutrition and dietetics programs. He is a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a validated measure of intercultural competence, and is developing a pilot study using the IDI to measure how NUT 2060 shapes students’ intercultural development over the course of a semester, pending an º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Denver Provost Mini Grant application. The pilot is designed to build toward a larger study of how coursework on race, power, and food justice contributes to students’ capacity to engage across cultural difference. As Co-Investigator on the U.S. Department of Education’s Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (POHA) grant, he also helped administer more than $320,000 in scholarships and stipends supporting students from diverse backgrounds in post-baccalaureate nutrition and dietetics study.

Before moving into full-time teaching, Dr. Lunsford spent several years as an academic advisor and advising administrator at º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Denver, work that continues to shape how he supports students today. He is a past President of the Denver Dietetics Association and received the º£½ÇÖ±²¥ of Health and Human Sciences’ Outstanding Service Award in 2026.