The Katherine O. Musgrave Award
2024 Recipient: Catherine Hoffmann
The purpose of the Katherine O. Musgrave (KOM) Public Service Award
is to recognize an individual, organization or collaborations for
outstanding work in nutrition policy, education, or research.
MNC presents the award each year at the Annual Conference. To be considered for this award, nominees must:
Have a completed nomination form;
Not be a previous award winner;
Have accomplished their work in Maine.
The deadline to apply for the 2025 KOM Public Service Award is August 1, 2025.
Email alexander.bosse@maine.edu for more information or for questions.
some history…
Katherine Musgrave was one of the stalwarts of the University of Maine faculty — the consummate teacher, both in the classroom and in distance education, and the untiring human nutrition education researcher and advocate. She came to UMaine the year after getting her degree from Oklahoma State in 1968, teaching countless students who went on to nutrition-related careers, helping train school food service personnel and consulting with local physicians on how to advise patients on healthful eating habits. Katherine ‘retired’ as a full professor in 1985, but continued to teach a popular introductory course on food and nutrition, both on campus, by ITV and online.
Her passion for healthy living and good nutrition was nationally recognized, was award-winning and made a difference in Maine. Her caring for the health and well-being of future generations was evident in so many ways, including the scholarship fund she established in the University of Maine Foundation in 2009 to provide financial assistance to graduate dietetic interns.
Katherine epitomized the teaching, research and community outreach mission of a public research university. We will miss her integrity, vision, wit and all-out love of life.
““What I believe is that the human body is a miracle that will heal itself and will prevent disease if we treat it right, and I think a large part of this treatment is the food we eat and that’s all I know.””
Past Recipients
2024: Catherine Hoffman, Dairy Council
2022: Anna Korsen, Full Plates Full Potential
2021: Michael Flynn, and the Maine School Nutrition Staff
To honor and recognize all Maine School Nutrition Programs for their effort and dedication to the children in our state, especially now, given their response to continue school meals during COVID-19.
2020: Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, PhD, FACN
2019: Mary Rolfe
2018: Cheryl Wixson
2017: Good Shepherd Food Bank
2017: Jeanne Reilly, Director of School Nutrition - RSU 14
2016: Sheila Costello, Waldo County General Hospital Nutrition Services Manager
2016: Gail Lombardi, Maine Dept. of Education Child and Nutrition Services
2014: Kathy Halpin, Maine Medical Center & Marlene Hall, WIC Washington County
2013: Willie Grenier, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom
2012: Karen Kleinkopf, FARMS
2011: Cherie Merrill, School Food Service Director, RSU3
2010: Kirsten Walter, Director, Nutrition Center of Maine in Lewiston
2009: Richard A. Cook, Ph.D
2008: Helen Rankin
2007: Nellie Hedstrom
2006: Mary Owen
2005: Lynn Bolduc
2004: Robert Spear, Agriculture Commissioner
2003: Elizabeth Patten
2002: Lucinda Hale
2001: Dr. Dora Anne Mills
2000: Lynn McGrath
1999: Dr. Margaret Eastman Farmer
1998: Marie Mullin
1997: F. Peter McCarron
1996: Jeanne Hood
1994: Dr. Clifford Rosen
1993: Bill Whitaker
1992: Katherine Musgrave
1991: Maureen McCarthy
1990: Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association
1989: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
1988: Patricia Pierson
1987: Raquel Boehmer
1986: Ken and Jim Raffel, Arby's
For more information, please contact Alex Bosse at alexander.bosse@maine.edu
For more information on Katherine O. Musgrave:
Bangor Daily News
Maine Women's Hall of Fame