UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Nikki Jupe has been named the assistant athletic director for performance nutrition services. Jupe comes to Happy Valley after spending five years at the University of Oregon, most recently serving as the senior sports dietitian.
Jupe is charged with overseeing all aspects of performance nutrition for more than 800 student-athletes across 31 programs. Jupe will supervise performance nutrition education and counseling for the student-athletes, coaches and sport performance practitioners and direct all day-to-day performance nutrition-related activities.
Jupe will develop nutritional strategies essential to maximizing performance including enhancing and monitoring current nutrition resources and support, and develop and implement policies and protocols that ensure compliance with NCAA and Big Ten Conference rules and regulations.
"I am elated to welcome Nikki Jupe to the Penn State ICA family," said senior associate AD, student-athlete performance, health and welfare Lauren Rhodes. "Her background, experiences and overall collaborative approach to performance nutrition will add extreme value not only to our student-athletes, but also to our coaches and staff. Nikki is a proven leader in the industry and will undoubtedly build upon the solid foundation we currently have within performance nutrition. I look forward to serving alongside her and our sport performance team colleagues as we continue to find innovative ways to exceed expectations and embody the mission of the department."
"I couldn't be more excited to transition into the assistant athletic director of performance nutrition at Penn State and begin working with the sport performance team on ways to enrich the daily lives of the student-athletes," said Jupe. "I hope to execute my passion for making an impact on a student-athlete's life through nutrition in a way that encourages building better habits propelling them forward to achieve their version of greatness. My hope is the performance nutrition team can do this by engaging, educating and fueling every student-athlete with performance nutrition fundamentals to allow each student-athlete to participate in sport at the highest level on and off the field of play."
Jupe joins the Nittany Lions after serving on the nutrition staff at the University of Oregon for the last five years, including the last three as the senior sports dietitian. As the senior sports dietician, Jupe oversaw the sports nutrition department, directly overseeing the nutritional operations for football, men's basketball, men's and women's cross country and track & field, men's and women's tennis, and women's soccer.
During her tenure with the Ducks, Jupe helped fuel the men's basketball team to Final Four and Sweet 16 appearances, the women's basketball team to Final Four and Elite Eight appearances and a No. 2 ranking prior to the COVID pandemic in 2019-20, the women's track & field team to the 2016-17 NCAA triple crown (winning cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field titles in the same season) and several individual National Champions, and the men's track & field team to four Pac 12 titles and the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track & Field title.
Prior to moving to Oregon, Jupe served as the assistant director of performance nutrition for one year at Baylor University. She aided men's and women's basketball, volleyball, tennis and track & field teams as their dietitian. She also oversaw inventory management, ordering, and operational services alongside the director of sports nutrition. Jupe also worked as a sports dietician at Texas A&M University for one year.
Jupe earned her bachelor's degree in food, nutrition and dietetics from Stephen F. Austin University in May 2012. She also has master's degrees in kinesiology and food, nutrition and dietetics from Stephen F. Austin. She is a registered dietitian and a board certified specialist in sports dietetics.
