Educational Programming

NWCCU Webinar: Looking Beyond Higher Education’s Topline Numbers

May 20, 2022; 12:00 PM Pacific Time (Free)

If you read the newspapers or listen to the radio, you might have an easily digestible take on college enrollment and the effects of the pandemic. But if you work in higher education, you should understand what lies beneath those numbers, and that their effect on you and your institution might be bigger or smaller than otherwise expected. Jon Boeckenstedt, Vice Provost of Enrollment Management at Oregon State University in Corvallis will walk past the headlines to dig down into the numbers that matter for higher ed practitioners charged with seeing into the future.

Featured Speaker:

Jon Boeckenstedt is the Vice Provost of Enrollment Management at Oregon State University in Corvallis, where he has been since July, 2019. Prior to that, he was Associate Vice President at DePaul University in Chicago, for seventeen years. He has almost 40 years of experience in enrollment management and admissions, and has worked at a wide range of colleges and universities, from non-selective to highly selective, and from very small to very large. He has special interest in data visualization and the appropriate application of corporate strategy to higher education, and is the author of three blogs: One on higher education data, one on important trends and topics in admission and enrollment management, and one focusing on Oregon higher education. Jon is an Iowa native, and holds a BA in English and an MS in Marketing and Management.

Register HERE

NWCCU Webinar: Addressing College Student Hunger: Campus Solutions and Advocacy

May 27, 2022; 12:00 PM Pacific Time (Free)

Nationally, 1 in 3 college students experience hunger. Campus food pantries play a prominent role in addressing basic needs insecurity among college students. Our 2021 survey of 352 campus pantries revealed that although the campus pantries tend to be young in their fight against student hunger (45% opened in the last 5 years), the majority (75%) provide referrals to other resources for students, in addition to providing immediate access to food. This workshop will share our pantry survey findings, key strategies campuses can adopt for their food pantry and basic needs hub, securing grant and state funding for their work, and Swipe Out Hunger’s ongoing programmatic offerings.

Featured Speakers:

Rachel Sumekh is the Founder & CEO of Swipe Out Hunger, the leading nonprofit addressing college hunger. Started in 2010 by a group of friends at UCLA, Swipe Out Hunger now spans more than 400 campuses in 50 states. Its original model is the Swipe Drive, which enables students to donate their extra meals to their peers facing food insecurity on campus. Today, Swipe Out Hunger provides on-campus solutions to colleges, policy and advocacy pathways, and student empowerment practices. Sumekh is the original architect of the Hunger Free Campus Bill which has sent more than $100 million to colleges across five states to fund anti-hunger programs on campuses. Her work has been recognized by The Obama White House as a “Champion of Change”, and the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Before launching Swipe Out Hunger full-time, Sumekh followed her millennial urge to change the world and served those facing poverty as a case manager in Chicago through AmeriCorps. Sumekh serves on the board of her Jewish spiritual community, IKAR, and is a proud graduate of UCLA. She credits her upbringing as the child of Iranian Jewish refugees for her intersectional perspective.

Heather Parrie (HP) is the Community Coordinator at Swipe Out Hunger, where they connect and support the organization’s network of colleges. HP got her start in anti-hunger advocacy while studying at the University of Missouri, where they worked with the on-campus food pantry and completed a SNAP internship with Feeding Missouri, providing SNAP assistance and outreach around mid-Missouri and piloting a SNAP assistance program in Missouri prisons. After Mizzou, they went to work for The Campus Kitchens Project, and based at The Campus Kitchen at Northwestern, built community partnerships, managed summer food programs, and worked with students to build and strengthen anti-hunger initiatives on their campus. Before joining the Swipe Out Hunger team, they worked for Chicago-based project development studio and restaurant group Land and Sea Department, where they helped organize their staff pandemic relief fund and food delivery program. You can find them in Chicago, hitting up their local movie theatre, taking care of their pets and plants, and dreaming of their next trip.

Zoe Duffield is the Advocacy and Organizing Manager at Swipe Out Hunger. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Connecticut, where her passion of advocacy grew while experiencing the multitude of social change issues college students face every day. Prior to joining Swipe Out Hunger, Zoe was a Campus Organizer with MASSPIRg Students, where she trained and developed the next generation of student activists on campaigns ranging from climate change to food insecurity. Originally from the Bay Area, Zoe now resides in Western MA, where she enjoys hiking and cooking in her free time.