Pamela Bartz recently joined the Samford staff as the athletics department's director of performance nutrition.
 
Bartz will work with Samford's student-athletes, helping them to eat healthier. She will plan team meals, both at home and on the road, and she will also work to educate the student-athletes to be completely prepared to eat healthy.
 
Bartz said she looks forward to forming relationships with Samford's student-athletes while helping them to live healthier lives.
 
"I'm excited about building relationships, getting them to understand that it is more than just being told what to eat," Bartz said. "It is learning the nutritional value of food in your every-day life. It is a constant meal – it's snacks, half-time fuel, it's a continual fueling."
 
Playing a sport at the collegiate level puts student-athletes' bodies through a great deal of stress. Bartz said a big part of her job is helping the players recover after workouts and games.
 
"Athletes are put through a lot of hours of body work and you have to build yourself back up through nutrition," Bartz said. "I want to teach them healthy lifestyles that will continue after their athletic career. To be an athlete, they have to be healthy and I can help them"
 
One of the ways Bartz is helping Samford student-athletes recover is with "fueling stations" located in the weight rooms at the Cooney Family Field House and in the Pete Hanna Center. At these locations, student-athletes are provided NCAA compliant supplements and snacks following workouts.
 
Samford is the only school in the Southern Conference to have a full-time performance nutrition staff, and Bartz said the program has plenty of room to grow. She added that the coaching staff at Samford has been very supportive and open-minded about the program.
 
"The coaches are really giving me the reigns with my job and what I am here to do," Bartz said. "So it is a great partnership."
 
Bartz, a native of Cleveland, came to Samford from the University of Tennessee, where she had served as a sports nutrition intern since January. At Tennessee, she worked with the men's and women's tennis, baseball, women's rowing, men's and women's golf, volleyball, men's and women's track and field and men's and women's swimming and diving teams.
 
Prior to working at Tennessee, Bartz worked as a dietitian at Elyria Catholic High School (Elyria, Ohio), CLE Swimming (Amherst, Ohio), Center for Applied Health Sciences (Stow, Ohio), MaxOut Sports Martial Arts and Fitness Center (Bedford Heights, Ohio), Lutheran High School West (Rocky River, Ohio) and YMCAs in Westlake, Ohio; Avon, Ohio and Cleveland.
 
She has also worked as a fitness trainer at DOW Westside YMCA in Addis, La., and at Traction in Baton Rouge, La. Bartz worked as a volunteer at Carolina Athletic Development (Kernersville, N.C.) and St. Paul Lutheran Church (Westlake, Ohio).
 
Bartz is a registered dietitian, and a licensed dietitian in Ohio, Alabama, and Tennessee. She is National Restaurant Association ServSafe certified, as well as American Safety and Health Institute CPR and AED certified. Bartz is also an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.
 
Bartz has earned two Bachelor of Science degrees from Louisiana State University. She received her BS in Nutritional Sciences/Dietetics in 2011, and she earned a degree in Kinesiology/Fitness Studies in 2009.  Pamela completed her accredited Dietetic Internship at the University of Louisiana Lafayette in 2012.