Army Captain, Registered Dietician and Track Star
to Graduate from the C.W. Post Campus

By the time Trisha Stavinoha arrived at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in September 2004, she had already been to Egypt and Kuwait.  A captain in the U.S. Army, Stavinoha had also lived in many places in the United States, but was excited to arrive in New York.

“I had never lived on the East Coast,” said the San Antonio, Texas native.

A registered dietician, she will receive her M.S. in Nutrition with a specialization in sports nutrition and clinical nutrition when she graduates from C.W. Post on May 14, 2006.

Stavinoha went to Kuwait in March 2003, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, serving as a dietitian at a field hospital. She assisted with nutritional issues faced by the sick and wounded and helped the soldiers stationed there maintain a healthy lifestyle.

“When you are deployed you recognize how many things that we, as Americans, take for granted – going to restaurants, taking a shower, being able to flush a toilet,” she said. “When you do a job in a deployment setting, you learn to work with very little resources.”

Stavinoha, 29, joined the Army in 1998 after graduating from Southwest Texas with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition. After completing various assignments, including the overseas deployments, she applied for a long term health education training program and was accepted. C.W. Post had just the nutrition graduate program that she was looking for.

At C.W. Post, she is a graduate assistant/assistant coach and top distance runner for the cross country and track and field teams. While competing last year she broke the indoor 3,000 and outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 km records – a pretty remarkable feat for someone who never competed on a high school or college level.

“I started running when I was in the Army,” she said. She entered many races and even joined the Army 10-miler team wherever she was stationed.

“When I got to C.W. Post, I thought running for the team might be fun,” Stavinoha said. Since her only responsibility to the Army while she is at C.W. Post is to go to school and do well, she figured she could utilize her free time doing something productive. Running fit the bill and helped to keep her in shape.

The day after commencement she’ll travel to her next assignment – the U.S. Army Institute for Research and Environmental Medicine outside Boston. There she will research food, rations, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and other army-related sports and nutrition issues that will help keep the armed forces healthy. “A solider is the ultimate athlete,” she said. 

Stavinoha will be one of more than 2,300 students who will graduate on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 2006 at the C.W. Post Campus. The Campus has awarded more than 92,000 degrees in its 51-year history, through a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs. The Class of 2006 includes 949 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,376 master's degree candidates, 16 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and three receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. This year, C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.