Prof. Mary Murimi 

Professor of Nutrition

Title

Chancellor, Daystar University

Biography

  • Committed and born again Christian woman
  • Member of Turning Point Church, Texas and involved in small groups 
  • Married to Sammy Murimi (1982) and a mother of four
  • Involved as a family in Share International which has planted over 200 churches in rural Turkana in Northern Kenya, and they have trained and sent about 61 Turkana missionaries. Prof. Murimi is involved with the women and girls ministries in Turkana.

Education

  • Ph.D., Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, USA, 1996
  • M.Sc ., Food and Nutrition / Dietetics, IEastern Illinois University, USA, 1992
  • B.Sc., Food and Nutrition/Dietetics, Mundelein College, 1990

Professional background

  • Registered Dietitian with the American Dietetic Association since 1993
  • Member of the Society of Nutrition Education since 1992

Experience

  • She started her teaching and research career at Louisiana Tech University in 1998 where she progressed through all the academic ranks, took a sabbatical at Yale in 2008, and Joined Texas Tech in 2012.
  • She is currently a full professor of Nutrition at Texas Tech University in the department of Nutritional Sciences engaged in teaching, grant writing, and research at the local and international level. Leadership responsibilities are part of the package. 
  • She is the President-Elect and the chair of the 2016 annual conference for the Society of Nutrition Education and Behavior. This position comes with a wide range of influence, decision making, mentoring the next generation, and assessing and setting nutrition policies.
  • At her community research laboratory, she is mentoring a total of 5 doctoral students from Kenya, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia and a post-doc fellow from Kenya. At the community level, she is the lead nutrition researcher for the East Lubbock Promise neighborhood and a member of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence cluster at Texas Tech University.
  • She has made international memorandum of understanding between Texas Tech University and Kenyatta University, The Kenya Medical Research Institute, The Vaal University of Technology in South Africa, Rwanda college of Public Health, The Jigjiga University in Ethiopia

Research & Publications

  • Prof. Murimi is widely published with more than 35 works published.
  • She has served the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior as an Associate Editor since 2008 to current, determining the articles that are timely and educational, and guiding both reviewers and authors in the production of timely, accurate, and relevant articles.
  • She has also spoken in over 50 conferences.
  • She has been involved in various researches. In the community setting, her research agenda is aimed at dietary and lifestyle behavior changes by translating clinical trials and scientific information to participants in an effort to combat obesity and related chronic diseases. For example, she implemented a longitudinal community-wide project to combat Obesity and related diseases in rural communities in Northern Louisiana funded by Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Resource Mobilization

Prof. Murimi has been able to acquire approximately $1.2 M in grants money as a principal investigator over the past six years, over 90% of which were funded by federal organizations. She has raised funds for over 20 grants.

Leadership roles

  • Her leadership roles at the society started at the division level and progressed to the highest position of leadership in the society. For example, she has served as Chair of the Division of International Nutrition (2005-2007), a division of Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB).
  • She has also co-chaired the SNEB nominating committee (2007-2008); and participated as a member of annual conference planning for two years (2007-2009).
  • She has been a member of the Board of directors for the Society for Nutrition Education for the last 5 years from 2011 to current and now assuming full presidency in 2016.
  • She was appointed by the USDA National Officer to be the Panel Manager for the childhood prevention program 2013-2014.
  • She registered as a reviewer for NIH and USDA grants.
  • At the University level, she is currently serving at the Texas Tech University Graduation, Convocation and Commencement events.
  • She served in the faculty awards in the college of Human Sciences 2014-2015.
  • Currently she is serving at the tenure and faculty merit awards for the department of Nutritional Sciences.