TC Affiliations:
Educational Background
M.Ed. (community nutrition education), Teachers College, Columbia University, 1988;
M.A. (science journalism), New York University, 1987;
B.S. (clinical nutrition), University of Pittsburgh, 1985.
Biographical Information
Dr. Lora Sporny's history at Teachers College started as a graduate student. A practicing registered dietitian-nutritionist who recently completed a master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting at New York University's Graduate School of Journalism, she came to TC for advanced education and training in nutrition. While at TC, she earned both an advanced master's degree in community nutrition education and a doctorate in nutrition education. While a doctoral candidate, she joined the Nutrition Program at Hunter College of the City University of New York as an instructor and then as an assistant professor on a substitute line. Upon completing the doctorate, she joined the TC Program in Nutrition as an adjunct assistant professor and later as an adjunct associate professor of nutrition and education. In 2009, she became a full-time lecturer of nutrition and education in the Program in Nutrition. In 2021, she was promoted to senior lecturer.
Amid Dr. Sporny's faculty responsibilities at Teachers College, she teaches two courses yearly for the University of Connecticut and three courses yearly for the OPEN Program of Columbia University's School of Nursing. For many years she taught a lecture series for NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, and taught courses at Hebrew University and Tel Hai College in Israel, and Reykyavik University in Iceland.
In the past, Dr. Sporny's consulting activities have included the development of Dietetic Internship Programs. One of the Dietetic Internship Programs was developed for the Sarasota County Board of Education in Florida. The Program is one of only a few nationwide that specializes in childhood nutrition education and school food service. With a strong belief in diet's impact on metabolic programming, Dr. Sporny is an advocate of healthful diets and nutrition education early in life. Towards this end, she edited four nutrition books that are available in many middle schools and high schools throughout the U.S. and Canada. Other professional activities have included writing nutrition education curricula for community programs, editing nutrition education modules on disease management and prevention for the Internet, and speaking about diet and disease to audiences in a variety of settings.