Stephanie Dean

B.S. Nutrition Cal Poly 2005
minor: Food Science
M.S. Nutrition
San Jose State University 2010

What she does now:

Test Kitchen Manager for Sunset Magazine
As test kitchen manager at Sunset, I am responsible for the day to day running of the test kitchen. I develop recipes and get recipes from the other staff writers and sometimes recipes from readers and then give them to our 14 recipe testers to cook. Their job is cook the recipe as it is written to check it for accuracy. Throughout the day, myself and rest of the food staff sits down for tastings where we comment on/critique the recipes. If things need to be fixed and tested again I see to this. A lot of my job is answering questions pertaining to recipe steps, ingredients, equipment, etc. My job really allows me to be creative, but also use my science background at the same time.

Why she recommends Cal Poly's Food Science and Nutrition Department

"I really can't recommend it enough. My experience at Cal Poly has been invaluable. Whether it is developing recipes, dealing with management related issues, explaining nutrition information to other staff members, conducting research for a story or equipment purchase, or working on accounting (yes I do a little of that too!), I learned all about it at Cal Poly through my Nutrition degree. After graduating I felt I had a leg up in the work world because I had actually done the work in my field, as opposed to students from other schools who had really just learned about a topic and couldn't put it into action. I also formed relationships with my professors, which makes Cal Poly particularly unique. Many students at other schools are taught solely by grad students with little professor interaction. I really can't say enough about how positive my experience at Cal Poly was and continues to be!"