Mary Harris Biography Legacies Project

When it was time to select an undergraduate experience, Mary set her sights on Michigan State where she studied nutrition. Following graduation, Mary moved to Boston where she completed a master’s degree in nutrition at Framingham State University and worked at the New England Medical Center (now a part of Tufts University). With her master’s degree complete, Mary began working as a dietician. A couple of years later, Mary was ready to dive into a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences. She attended the University of Rhode Island. While in her Ph.D. program, Mary taught for two years and developed a love for teaching.

After she finished her Ph.D. in 1982, Mary moved back to Boston to complete a post-doc at Tufts in ophthalmology. During this time in her life, Mary was immersed in biochemical pharmacology looking at drugs that would help control eye pressure. While at an annual ophthalmology conference, Mary discovered an emerging research area of omega-3 fatty acids and retinal function. Mary met Mel Mathias on an employment visit to CSU and recognized the opportunity for collaboration with his fatty acid research group. She decided to leave the world of ophthalmology research and return to her nutrition roots to study omega-3 fatty acids.

In 1985, Mary applied for an assistant professor job opportunity at Colorado State University with the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. This position would allow Mary to get back into teaching and collaborate with Mel Mathias and Ken Allen on omega-3 fatty acid research in animal and human clinical trials. Shortly after Mary met Dr. Jamie McGregor, an OB/GYN at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and she began a career-long collaboration in omega-3 nutrition in pregnancy.

In addition to her robust research program, Mary was charged with teaching courses on Maternal Child Nutrition, Nutrition Communications, and Clinical Nutrition, as well as developing a dietetic internship program for dietetics students. Mary partnered with fellow Legacies Project honoree, Jennifer Anderson, to direct and launch an experiential learning program for master’s students. The goal was to provide master’s dietetics students with 9-month-long experiences in clinical settings, community nutrition settings, and food service settings so that they would be eligible to become Registered Dietitians.

Mary and Jennifer were early pioneers of master’s level clinical dietetic internship programs. As they co-directed the program, they adapted and evolved the requirements to reflect changes in the profession. A big pride point for Mary was that she and Jennifer not only developed the 9-month experiential program, but they were able to turn it into an accredited program at the master’s level. At the time, few institutions had a similar program in place. Mary’s and Jennifer’s work set the stage for what is now the national model for graduate education and internship requirements for dieticians.

In addition to serving as the Co-Director of the Clinical Internship Program, Mary served as the director of the undergraduate programs for nutrition and food science students. Mary loved her interactions with these students. The advising, coaching, and mentoring were very rewarding and reaffirming for her. In this role, she coached students through the process of course selection, the importance of maintaining GPAs, and getting the right internship and volunteer experiences to achieve future career goals. Mary was so committed to mentorship and internships that she developed a seminar course on how to get and accept the right internship that will set up students to achieve future career goals.

In 2004-2005, Mary received the Jack E. Cermak Advising Award in recognition of her excellence in graduate student advising and mentoring.

A second pride point for Mary was her role in creating the Patricia McKlem Medical Nutrition Therapy Lab, named with a gift from alumna Pat McKlem (’70) in 2012. Mary had taught Medical Nutrition Therapy courses for 25 years, so seeing this lab come to life with a counseling room, o2 max, and blood draw stations was exciting.

A third and final pride point for Mary was her research program. Mary’s research and advocacy work on omega-3s has left a huge legacy. Mary’s work with researchers at CSU and other researchers across the United States and in Europe demonstrated that omega-3s decrease the risk of pre-term birth. Mary was also instrumental in getting omega-3s into prenatal vitamins.  During her career, Mary testified before Congress and worked with the USDA and FDA to change misleading “advisory” warnings of fish and mercury consumption during pregnancy.

Mary retired in 2020, earning professor emerita status. When looking back at her 35-year career at CSU, Mary explained that the most fulfilling thing was not only mentoring students but seeing them go on to have successful careers in dietetics and nutrition. Some memorable students include Stephanie Smith, Brittney Sly, and Alena Clark. To celebrate her commitment to mentorship, Mary is launching the Mary Harris and Stephanie Smith Mentorship Fund in Food Science and Human Nutrition in the fall of 2023. The program seeks to assist first-year FSHN students by putting them on a pathway to persist through the FSHN majors, graduate on time, then go on to have a successful career. The fund will help create “mentorship circles” that include an FSHN faculty mentor, a graduate student mentor, and upperclassmen mentors, all of whom will work with first-year mentees. Graduate and undergraduate student mentors will serve as a resource to first-year mentees. Mentors will help their mentees by encouraging academic success, strengthening study and time management skills, enhancing leadership opportunities, and creating a sense of belonging and connection to the FSHN department and broader CHHS college community.

Since retiring, Mary has been spending a lot of time with her family. She has 10 grandkids! She also likes to give back to her community. She volunteers weekly at the Larimer County Food Bank to help decrease food insecurity. Mary also remains very passionate about advocating for women’s health and wellness.