Dianne S. Ward, EdD, FTOS, FACSM is well known for her contributions to the field of public health. She is remembered as Dr. Ward by some, the highly revered educator and pioneer of childhood obesity research, responsible for steering countless individuals into fulfilling careers in academia, research, and public health practice. Others remember Dianne, a driven colleague and collaborative visionary, recognizing and harnessing individual strengths while inspiring a collective effort towards a common goal. Friends and family remember Dianne for her endearing smile, her generosity, and her love for the four B’s – beach, boys (grandsons), birds, and basketball. For as many people who hold these cherished memories, there are many more who may not know her at all, yet her memory ripples through their lives every day, as Dianne’s legacy continues through all those she has impacted personally and through the countless lives that have been improved through her work.    

“Like a pebble cast into a pool, the concentric ripples of Dianne Ward’s career have influenced the lives of many people across the state of North Carolina, our nation, and the world… The people most impacted by Dianne’s visionary work are our nation’s most precious resource—our children. They would not recognize her name or understand the contribution she made to their well-being. Yet because of her, their healthier diets and increased physical activity will shape their lives in positive ways for years to come.” 

– Alice Ammerman, DrPH, Director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention 

Dianne with her three grandsons.

Passion for Public Health

At the time of her passing, Dianne was the Director of the Children’s Healthy Weight Research Group, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC-CH) Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and a professor in the Gillings School’s Department of Nutrition. 

Before joining the UNC-CH family, Dianne served as Chair of Coker College’s Physical Education Department and as a faculty member in the University of South Carolina’s School of Public Health. During her 23-year tenure at the University of South Carolina (USC), Dianne directed the Goodbodies weight management program, served as the undergraduate and graduate director for the Department of Physical Education, interim dean of the School of Public Health, and was among four faculty members to establish the Department of Exercise Science, consistently ranked among the nation’s best sports science programs. Over two decades have passed since Dianne’s journey at USC ended, but her impact on the university continues to this day.

“As the incoming dean of the school of public health in 1998, I succeeded Dianne,” Pastides says. “She opened her heart and her Rolodex and suggested that the work would be hard, but valuable, and could be done if I remained authentic. She asked me to remember that in the South, a smile was the precursor to a deal and a handshake was as good as a contract. I followed that advice and built my professional reputation and success on that. Dianne was a friend to everyone she met.” 

– Harris Pastides, USC President (2008-2019) 

Dianne and colleagues at the Physical Activity & Public Health Course, 1998. Dianne far left.  

Committed to Healthy Child Care Environments

Recognized as a “World Expert” in child care by Expertscape, Dianne is among the top 0.042% of published authors in child care research worldwide. Throughout her illustrative research career spanning 50 years, Dianne led efforts to establish high-quality healthy environments for all children. Her signature contribution to the field is the creation of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAPSACC) program, evolving to what is now known as Go NAPSACC – the enhanced web application version providing a suite of online tools for state early childhood administrators, technical assistance consultants, and educators seeking to create healthy early care and education environments. The success of this program far exceeded its North Carolina roots; receiving notable recognition from a White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, Harvard CHOICES, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More importantly, through Dianne’s valiant effort to develop a resource that could be widely accessible and benefit all children, to date Go NAPSACC has reached over 11,000 early care and education programs, serving over half a million children in the US, and has been successfully adapted for use internationally in the United Kingdom and Australia.  

Dianne and the CHWR Team at their 2021 retreat. Dianne top row, second from the right.

Committed to Mentoring Future Public Health Leaders

Throughout her career, Dianne was committed to supporting students interested in careers in academia and research. Her dedication to student involvement in her research has covered the academic spectrum—from undergraduate to postdoctoral.  She valued her students, made herself accessible to them, and creatively folded them into her team and her research work.  Their resulting academic experience was a rich and rewarding real-world experience for them.  Many students who worked with Dianne continued their professional collaborations with her long after they left UNC and established themselves in respected institutions of higher learning across the nation. It would be hard to overstate Dianne’s generosity as a teacher and mentor to the students she nurtured, but their “professional DNA” has most certainly been imprinted in a fruitful sense with Dianne’s influence.

Dr. Ward’s generosity was not limited to her students. While meeting her professional obligations, she was not too busy to participate in team events, to inquire about her colleagues’ personal lives, to share book suggestions with a friend, to clean out the office refrigerator, or to show her appreciation for a colleague’s contributions to her work.  

Dianne was a public health researcher with an international reputation, a humble leader, and the matriarch of the Community Health & Wellness Resource Team.  

Expanding Growth Opportunities

In recent years Dianne’s passion for high-quality early care and education bridged with her commitment to developing leaders in the field of public health, recognizing that access to career and professional development opportunities for all is key to bolstering diverse and resilient communities.

Continuing Dianne’s Legacy – The Ward Memorial Fund

The Community Health & Wellness Resource Team honors Dianne’s memory by moving forward with her vision and continuing her work to improve the health of children by establishing evidence-based programming and career opportunities in early childhood education and public health. The Ward Memorial Fund was established in 2023, shortly after her untimely passing, to support project development and professional development opportunities for early care and education professionals, students, and future researchers from historically underrepresented backgrounds including first-generation students. Through generous donations, Dianne’s internship recently launched its second-year summer cohort, with two new students, Patriska Richard and Ilhaan Sheikh. Learn more about their experiences here.

Gifts to The Ward Memorial Fund support project development and professional development opportunities for ECE professionals, students, and future researchers. 

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