As a Professional Home Economist (P.H.Ec.) and a Registered Dietitian (RD), Dr. Matthews uses a holistic approach to educate future dietetic professionals about food and nutrition issues in the community and modern agricultural practices.

Dr. Matthews has mentored several graduate classes through the development and implementation of multi-strategy peer nutrition education programs. She has also created many experiential learning opportunities at the undergraduate level. She has published research on innovative pedagogies, dietetic competency development through experiential learning, Canadian farmers’ perspectives of sustainable food production, and food skills of young adults. Her current areas of research are agriculture education for university students and an investigation of Ontario long-term care legislation and regulations.