November 7, 2019
Center for Student Involvement and Cats' Cupboard staff present at regional conference
Submitted by Center for Student Involvement
Center for Student Involvement and Cats' Cupboard staff recently presented during the Region II Conference for the Association of College Unions International, known as ACUI, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Conference attendees represented several college union and student activities professionals and students from campuses across the region — made up of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mexico.
Kelli Farris, executive director of the center, along with Abbey Gilliland-King, graduate student in college student development, presented a session about the learning outcomes and assessment development for the fall 2019 Week of Welcome programming.
Farris, who served as the keynote and panels chair for the conference planning team, also presented about the ACUI student programs and served on a panel discussing student fees.
Gilliland-King also served on a panel titled "Navigating Your Career Path" along with other professionals in the student activities and student unions field.
Additional Center for Student Involvement staff, Sara Heiman, assistant director, and Ashley Douglass, program coordinator, hosted a roundtable discussion about Week of Welcome programming and presented a session about the recent transition from OrgSync to OrgCentral, the university's student organization management platform.
Heiman also presented a session titled "Know-Yo-Self: Reflecting on Your Skillset as You Move Forward in Your Career" with colleagues from Oklahoma State University and Colorado State University.
Erin Bishop, community outreach advocate for Cats' Cupboard, delivered a keynote during the ACUI Talks session focused on creating inclusive communities on college campuses. Bishop shared some statistics about the current use of the Cats' Cupboard pantry on the K-State campus, as well as national statistics related to food insecurity. She encouraged conference attendees to help shift the paradigm when thinking about the college student diet, and to engage others in building a campus climate supportive of all students. Other ACUI Talks keynote speakers included a representative from Northwest Arkansas Equality, Inc., a slam poet, an undergraduate student from the University of North Texas, and a graduate student from the University of Arkansas.