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Dr. Schwartz is Director for the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies. Dr. Schwartz’s research and community service address how home environments, school landscapes, neighborhoods, and the media shape the eating attitudes and behaviors of children.

Dr. Schwartz earned her PhD in Psychology from Yale University in 1996. Prior to joining the Rudd Center, she served as Co-Director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders from 1996 to 2006. She has collaborated with the Connecticut State Department of Education to evaluate nutrition and physical activity policies in schools and preschools throughout the state. She co-chaired the Connecticut Obesity Task Force and has provided expert testimony on obesity-related state policies. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Food Bank.

Dr. Schwartz has received research grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health to study school wellness policies, the preschool nutrition environment, the effect of food marketing on children, the relationship between food insecurity and nutrition, and how federal food programs can improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods. In 2014, Dr. Schwartz received the Sarah Samuels Award from the Food and Nutrition Section of the American Public Health Association. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has profiled Dr. Schwartz’s life and career.

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Portrait of Marlene Schwartz

Marlene Schwartz

federal-support-for-school-food-programs-is-about-to-expire-our-expert-explains-the-importance-of-keeping-kids-hungerfree

Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health (Principal Investigator); Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies

 For two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. public schools have been able to provide free meals for all students, including to-go meals in the summer. But on June 30, 2022, the federal waivers that expanded the school lunch program will expire.

 In a recent Q&A published by The Conversation, Marlene Schwartz, a professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut and the director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health, discusses how these changes will affect children and families and how food pantries can help:

What are the effects of making school meals free for all students? The findings are pretty clear that when students have universal free meals, participation in school meals programs goes up, so more children eat them. And research shows that the meals that are provided through the school meal program are of higher nutritional quality than the meals that children bring from home or get from other places. Some studies have found that when you provide universal free meals, you have improvements in academic performance, particularly for students who are at higher risk. There is also evidence in some studies that universal free school meals help improve family food insecurity rates. When a family knows that their child can get breakfast and lunch every day at school, it really allows them to save their food budget to purchase other foods for the house. And that helps them be more food-secure. What is the role of food banks and pantries in shaping the diet and health of vulnerable children and families? Within the charitable food system, there’s been a real shift in thinking that has been a change from giving away as many pounds of food as possible to really looking at the nutritional quality of those pounds. That’s thanks in part to Feeding America, which is a national network of food banks, and Partnership for a Healthier America, which is part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative. Both of them are working with food banks around the country to really help them track the nutritional quality of their food and set goals for themselves in terms of maximizing the most nutritious foods they are able to distribute.   Dr. Schwartz is an expert on school wellness and nutrition programs and food insecurity. She's available to speak with media - simply click on her icon now to arrange a time today.




Federal support for school food programs is about to expire -- Our expert explains the importance of keeping kids hunger-free

Panel 1: The Science 

Marlene Schwartz (UConn Rudd Center) and Lori Dorfman (Berkeley Media Studies Group) speak on the science behind "Food Marketing to Children" on October 21, 2016. 

The Resnick Program and Harvard Food Law Lab's
3rd Annual Food Law and Policy Conference
October 21, 2016
"Food Marketing to Children: The Current Reality and What Can Be Done"

Panel 1: Marlene Schwartz and Lori Dorfman

Overview of School Food and Wellness by Marlene Schwartz, PhD

The Cultural Food Guide, developed by the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, offers food banks and food pantries a tool fight food insecurity by ensuring a respectful, productive, and positive experience for vulnerable populations in their communities.

Tackling Food Insecurity: Cultural Food Guide

Tackling Food Insecurity: Cultural Food Guide | UConn

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