Constance Virginia Kies (December 13, 1934 – November 30, 1993) was an American nutrition scientist and dietitian. Kies worked as a public school teacher for three years before going against the traditional gender norms of her time and completing an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Over the duration of her 30-year career at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Kies researched nutritional biochemistry. She demonstrated relationships between minerals, proteins, and dietary fiber through pioneering human subject research. Her findings led to advancements in human knowledge of copper and protein metabolism. She was honored with the Borden Award and was a fellow of the American College of Nutrition. Kies was a feminist and a member of the National Organization for Women and the Women's Equity Action League. She died of uterine cancer three months after her diagnosis.
Early life and education:
Contance Kies was born on December 13, 1934, in Blue River, Wisconsin. Her mother had been an educator and her father was superintendent of the school system. As a child, her family, including Kies and her three sisters, Cosette, Camilla, and Carolyn moved to a farm in Platteville, Wisconsin. She was the valedictorian at her graduation from Platteville High School. Kies attended Wisconsin State College, Platteville, where she earned a Regents Fellowship and other academic honors. In 1955, she completed a B.S. in English with minors in history, geography, library science, and home economics. After graduation, Kies worked as a public school teacher for three years. During this period, Kies determined that she had become an educator because of traditional gender norms. Kies saved money for graduate school and studied human physiology while she continued teaching. She earned an M.S. in foods and nutrition in 1960 and a Ph.D. in human nutrition and medical physiology in 1963 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her master's thesis was titled "Studies in Urinary Nitrogen Excretion". Kies' dissertation was titled "Effect of Essential to Non-essential Amino Acid Relationships in Adult Man and in the Rat".
As a graduate researcher, Kies worked in the laboratories of Hellen Linkswiler and May Reynolds in the department of home economics. She was a research assistant tasked with managing the nutrition program's "diet squads" of research participants in metabolic studies. She also worked as a part-time dietitian at the Wisconsin General Hospital. Her research focused on nonspecific nitrogen including nonessential amino acids, excess essential amino acids, and nonprotein sources including urea and diammonium citrate.
After completing her doctorate, Kies joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1963 as an assistant professor in the department of food and nutrition. She was promoted to associate professor in 1965 and full professor in 1968. She would remain at Lincoln for the remainder of her 30-year career. Her investigations focused on nutritional biochemistry. Throughout her career, Kies was a prolific writer. In 1965, she published her first paper in the Journal of Nutrition. Kies published thirteen papers in that journal. Her work can be found in other journals including The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Federation Proceedings and the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. She wrote over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and authored books and chapters about minerals and plant proteins. Kies organized national iron, calcium, and copper-related conferences. She later edited monographs of these conferences. Kies reported in 1974 that she spent 70% of her time researching at the UNL Experiment Station with the rest of her time devoted to teaching nutrition courses. She also participated in women's issues, serving as coordinator of the UNL class on "Women in Contemporary Society." In 1974, she was the advisor for the UNL Women's Resource Center and the University Women's Action Group. Kies identified as a feminist and was a member of the National Organization for Women and the Women's Equity Action League. In her experience, she witnessed more discrimination against women in academia and research than in the commercial sector. She found that a large issue in addressing these problems lay in difficulties changing unconscious discrimination. Kies also believed that women in home economics are not always taken as seriously by academics in other disciplines due to gender bias.
Kies became a well-known researcher who attended numerous domestic and international conferences. In 1987, Kies received a distinguished visiting faculty award from the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China through which she worked with the Ministry and the Department of Food Hygiene at Shandong University. In China, she taught the methodology of conducting human metabolic studies. Kies recruited several Chinese students to pursue their education in the United States. Kies was a member of the American Institute of Nutrition, the American Dietetic Association, the Institute of Food Technologists, the American Oil Chemists' Society, the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, and the Society for Nutrition Education. She was a certified home economist and a registered dietitian. During her career at Lincoln, served as the major professor for approximately 173 M.S. students and 32 Ph.D. students. Kies continued advising students after her August 1993 uterine cancer diagnosis.