Dietetic Technician
The Thompson School offers the only two-year, accredited, Dietetic Technician program in New Hampshire. Our program brings students with an avocation for nutrition and education together with professors who have almost 100 years of collective professional experience. The courses combine classroom and laboratory work, encouraging a balance between individual motivation and group collaboration.
Dietetic Technician students learn how to evaluate a client’s nutritional status, formulate nutrition care plans, design special diets, counsel patients, monitor food quality, supervise dietary staff, and provide nutrition education in a variety of community health care settings. Through 450 hours of dietetic practica, students receive hands-on experience at local organizations such as Exeter Health Care and UNH Cooperative Extension’s EFNEP and 4-H programs. The experience is rounded out by courses that build food service management skills such as supervising food production, standardizing recipes, and food safety.
Dietetic Technician students graduate prepared to sit for the Dietetic Technician Registration Exam. Registered technicians may work independently, or in partnership with dietitians, in settings such as hospitals, health-care facilities, retirement centers, health clubs, weight clinics, wellness centers, and public health agencies.
One course in biology and two years of college preparatory mathematics are required to enroll in this program. One year of college preparatory chemistry is preferred.
