Alumni Profile
Donna Klockeman (PhD - Food Science, '96) found her calling as a food scientist while working as a research technician in the CAES food science and technology department. Above are a few products she helped get on the market.
Matching healthy food trends with great taste
Donna Klockeman wanted to be a medical doctor when she grew up.
She later realized that as an agricultural scientist she would have a larger, more profound effect on people's lives and the future. And that's what she really wanted to do.
Klockeman, 46, received her doctorate in food science and technology from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 1996. She's now a research scientist with Wells' Dairy, Inc., the Iowa-based maker of Blue Bunny ice cream and other dairy products.
When she was 2 years old, Klockeman's father Robert died from leukemia. But the World War II veteran left his wife Winnie and family in the care of a close immediate family and an extended one called Fountain, Minn., a farm town of 300 a bit north of the Iowa line.
"I'm living proof that it takes a community to raise a child," she said. And because the folks in Fountain gave so much to her, she wanted to do something to give back and make them proud.
Schoolwork always came easy to Klockeman, and she figured that was the ticket. She tried pre-medicine but didn't like the cutthroat, and at times dishonest, competition. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1984, she headed to Athens, Ga., and UGA to continue her study of plant biology. But she still wasn't set on agriculture.
Then in December 1987, she took a job as a research technician in the CAES food science and technology department. And that's where she stayed for 13 years. Department professors helped her "realize that I was a food scientist. I just didn't know it," she said.
"(UGA CAES) gave me the chance to pull together my experiences growing up and arrange that into a tidy package that turned into a career," she said.
Wells' Dairy is known for indulgent and traditional dairy treats. Klockeman watches market trends and then matches them with Wells' products. For example, she recently released a yogurt fortified with Omega-3 fatty acid.
"People are willing to eat food that improves their health, but it has to be great tasting and like the food they're used to eating," she said. "The trick is to keep it fabulous."
In her spare time, Klockeman travels to visit friends. In keeping with a family tradition, she also makes quilts — something, she says, that connects her to her roots and women across the world.