Kristen Nauss
Kristen Nauss, a resident of Hamilton County and Soddy-Daisy, is returning to Hamilton County Schools to lead the School Nutrition Department as the new director. Ms. Nauss will take over for Carolyn Childs who retired after 11 years with the district. Ms. Nauss was the supervisor of nutritional services in Hamilton County Schools from 2011 to 2014. While with the district she supervised nutritional aspects of food service operations in 72 schools and worked with approximately 500 staff.
Ms. Nauss coordinated special dietary requests for over 300 students and planned, implemented and evaluated initiatives to improve food service and nutrition for children. She also represented the School Nutrition Department and the district in community partnerships and managed website content for school nutrition to improve communication with students, families, staff and the community.
“I am excited and honored to return to Hamilton County Schools as the director of School Nutrition,” Ms. Nauss said. “Recognizing the direct impact that health and wellbeing have on a student's ability to learn, I look forward to leading the program through innovative initiatives to better serve our students.”
Ms. Nauss was most recently a school nutrition education consultant with the Tennessee Department of Education. She had been with the state since leaving Hamilton County Schools. Nauss provided technical assistance and training to 16 districts with 153 schools to increase compliance, improve quality and stability of school food service programs. She coached districts to use planning and training to improve programs. Nauss also worked in the private sector in food service with experience at Lennon’s Dining and Applebee’s from 2001 to 2011.
Teaching nutrition and food service at the college level has also been a part of Ms. Nauss’ career. She has served as an adjunct faculty member teaching Introduction to Nutrition and Food Services courses at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga State Community College.
Education credentials for Ms. Nauss include a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Sciences from Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Nutrition with a public health nutrition concentration at the University of Tennessee, and she is pursuing a Master of Business Administration at Tennessee Technological University.
Ms. Nauss served as a state representative board member in the Tennessee School Nutrition Association in 2015 and 2016. She has also volunteered as a Leadership Studies Committee member for the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute.