Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:K-12 Outreach:We attended several recruitment and outreach events during this reporting cycle. One event was the STEDY/UA Yuma Middle School Summer Academy (160 students), which included a nutrition session. Two university students worked alongside the nutrition faculty, Michael Clark, delivering a nutritional sciences workshop for student participants.Another event was Southwest Ag Summit (100+ students), attended by high school students who attend sessions about careers in FANH. This event took place on February 21st, 2024, at Arizona Western College and the nutrition session was called "Culinary Medicine: A Recipe for Good Health", delivered by UA Yuma alumni Lily McNair, PSM, RDN, and PD Linares-Gaffer. The 3rd outreach event was USDA STEAM Academy Summer Residential program (12 students), designed to expose students attending IVC to careers in STEAM, including Nutritional Sciences. Community College Recruitment: SALUDABLES Program Coordinators at UA and AWC conducted classroom visits in intro nutrition courses at AWC during each semester of the reporting cycle. They also participated in transfer and career expos at AWC and UA Yuma. Noteworthy events include the AWC Transfer and Career Expo attended by 100 college students, UA Yuma Express Decision TransferDays at IVC (~50 students) and AWC (~100 students) where we provided major information, financial aid, and prospective applicants with on-the-spot decisions.Students bring their completed applications, transcripts, and required documents during Express Decision Day. Our team, comprised of admissions experts, evaluates these materials on the spot, providing students with a swift response. This event expedites the application process and adds a personal touch, making the transition to university life more tangible and immediate. UA Undergraduates: During the spring 2024 semester, we successfully recruited 3 new students into the SALUDABLES mentoring and transfer program who entered the B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics at UA-Yuma for fall 2024, bringing the total number of nutrition majors to 16 as of August 2024. Spring 2024 Networking: Networking events were held at UA Yuma Campus on February 21, March 20, and May 1st. These events were promoted to students enrolled in introductory nutrition courses at AWC, students who had already expressed interest in transferring in for fall 2024, and current UA undergraduate and graduate students. At each event, attendees engaged in a collaborative activity in our USDA funded kitchen/lab (SOPA grant), met and engaged with peers in a team building activity, and interacted with nutrition professionals from the community. 2-Part Summer Leadership Institute: The first Summer Leadership Institute for SALUDABLES students was held on August 21st and 22nd 2024. During this event, SALUDABLES students as well as other USDA funded scholars at UA Yuma were invited to participate in team building hosted by a 4-H extension staff person, learned about experiences of UA Yuma alumni and graduate students, met with professionals from several industries, and attended a tour of the City of Yuma council building where they met with city officials, among many other exciting activities. One goal of this leadership institute was to foster career aspirations, leadership identity and belonging at the University of Arizona Yuma campus. Three incoming Nutrition majors from AWC attended this leadership workshop. Another similar workshop will be held in August 2025 for incoming and returning SALUDABLES participants. Graduate Students: During the spring 2024 semester, our first SALUDABLES scholar, Jesus, participated in the SALUDABLES Nutrition Mentoring and Transfer Program by attending our program events and interacting with students. Jesus successfully graduated from the PSM-Dietetics program in May 2024 and recently accepted a job at the local hospital, Onvida Health (previously called Yuma Regional Medical Center). In summer 2024, two new SALUDABLES Scholars, Elia and Jisselle, started in the PSM-Dietetics graduate program and they have been highly engaged in our pipeline development activities. As part of the program, Jisselle and Elia registered as members for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and have become involved in two dietetic practice and member interest groups. Over the summer, they also made arrangements to attend the Academy's Food Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Minneapolis, taking place October 2024. Jisselle and Elia were invited to the summer leadership workshop for undergraduate students at UA Yuma Campus in Summer 2024 and participated in a summer STEAM camp. At this workshop, they were invited as guest speakers and presented about their college journey and career goals. They also designed and led a two-day team building activity in which undergraduate leadership workshop attendees planned and prepared a meal together, two days in a row. We intend to continue this tradition by inviting incoming graduate students who are supported on SALUDABLES to present and co-facilitate the summer Leadership Institutes for undergraduates in summer 2025. This provides an opportunity for the graduate students to serve in a leadership role with earlier stage peers, act as a role model, and practice public speaking and other soft skills. Changes/Problems:Delays: - UA and AWC continue to create curriculum, and both apply for Health Coaching Certificate Program Certification. - 1 Unit Career Seminar and 2 Unit Nutrition Foundations Course offered at AWC. AWC Delays: Institutional reorganizationresulted in the Exercise and Wellness division being moved into a new academic unit. This delayednew course syllabi being finalized and approved in the new home unit late in reporting cycle 22) We have faced challenges hiring a credentialled health coach to deliver health coaching curriculum, which is needed to achieve the NBCHWC certification. PD's are working together to identify a qualified faculty member to deliver the health coaching curriculum at AWC. UA Delays:Around the start of reporting cycle 2 (September 2023), Co-PD Young paid the NBCHWC fee to start the application using funding from UA. Additionally, PD LG and Co-PD Young completed the internal application to offer a Health Coaching certificate at UA. PD Young also did major curriculum development for the health coaching course syllabi to-be shared by AWC and UA, including developing assessments and course materials.However, around November 2023,UA announced major budget shortfalls which made national headlines, resulting in a hiring freeze, and a significant reduction in force achieved through budget cuts, voluntary departures, and involuntary departures. It was also announced that the University would abandon it's planned budget model change fromResponsibility Centered Management (RCM) to an Activity Informed Budget (AIB); to date, no new budget model has been announced. These unprecendented circumstances have resulted in faculty understaffing, closing of some nutrition programs, and halted new program creation. Many university activities includingnew course approval wasalso delayed during this time, which delayed approval of new courses that are still in progress. Despite these challenges, the PD's will continue to navigate our institutional change and available resourcesto advance these initiatives during reporting cycle 3. Problem: Undergraduate participating in our mentoring and transfer activities and transfer recruitment is below target. Our goal was to recruit and engage 10 sophomore students at AWC last year in our mentoring and transfer programming but we only recruited 4. We attribute this to delays in hiring SALUDABLES Program Coordinators at both institutions. Coordinator, Carmen Gallego, was brought on in Aug 2024, 7 months later than planned,and then departed in May 2024. Our new coordinator, Kenia, was then brought on and started supporting the program in July 2024.AWC SALUDABLESCoordinator, Sabrina, wasn't hired until Feb 24. Because of these gaps in staffing, we were not able to ramp up the collaborative recruitment and outreach activities as planned until Fall 2024 (reporting cycle 3). PD LG meets with both SALUDABLES Program Coordinators weekly to provide direction and support regarding recruitment and outreach,promotion of the SALUDABLES Mentoring and transfer program, and support new student onboarding into the program. The project PDs and proram coordinators will be working diligently to increase the number of students at AWC participating in SALUDABLES programming and transferring into the B.S. in Nutritional Sciences in 2025. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Faculty, staff and administrators are invited to program events andmeetings each semester to discuss project activities, progress, and opportunities for engagement. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Please see updates regarding FANS Initiative, Objective 3A-3C. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting cycle we will keep working to deliver the health coaching and career exploration course curriculum, continue K-14 recruitment and outreach activities, host program networking and mentoring events, deliver FANS newsletters, and host at least 1FANS event. We will also modify program recruitment language with student input to reduce barriers to participation by emphasizing aspects of th eprogram that have flexible scheduling. We will recruit and support 2-3 graduate students in the program and engage them in pipeline development and professional and leadership development activities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1A: 1) STEDY/UA Yuma Middle School Summer Academy (160 students)2) Southwest Ag Summit (100+ students), attended by h.s. students. Sessions about careers in FANH. Feb 21, 2024, at AWC. 3) USDA STEAM Academy Summer Residential program (12 students), to expose students attending IVC to careers in STEAM, including Nutr.Monthly virtual info sessions were held for prosp nutr majors attending AWC and IVC in Sp24. AWC and IVC College Transfer Days: SALUD. Program Coord. and Advisors part. In AWC Transfer and Career Expo (~100 college students), UA Yuma Express Decision TransferDays at IVC (~50 students) and AWC (~100 students) where we provided major information, financial aid, and prosp applicants with on-the-spot decisions. Objective 1B: A) SALUD. Program Coord at UA and AWC conducted classroom recrt visits in intro nutr courses at AWC during fa23 and sp24. 4 students agreed to participate in the SALUD. program during sp24, shy of the goal of 10. Of these 4, 3 transferred to UA in fa24, bringing the total number of nutr majors to 16 as of Aug 2024. These students received participation stipends from AWC, met with a UA Academic advisor, attended events at UA Yuma with peers, faculty and advisors to support their transfer. Barriers to student participation include time constraints (work, caregiving, commuting). We have 6 prospective students we are working on recruiting. B) Networking events were held at UA Yuma Campus on Feb 21, Mar 20, and May 1 for ugrd students at UA and AWC. At each event, attendees engaged in a collaborative activity in our USDA funded kitchen/lab, met and engaged with peers in a team building activity, and interacted with nutr professionals. C) Summer Leadership Institute was held on Aug 21 and 222024. During this event, 3 incoming Nutr majors from AWC participated in team building hosted by a 4-H extension staff person, learned about experiences of UA Yumaalumni and graduate students, met with prof. from several industries. Objective 1C: A) PDs worked collaboratively in fa23 and sp24 to work on the NBCHWC (health coaching) cert. curriculum requirements. 2 health. coaching syllabi were originally submitted to the AWC Curriculum committee in reporting cycle 1 but approval was delayed to the su24 due to re-org at AWC. AWC and UA will continue efforts to submit the application to establish a NBCHWC program at AWC in 2025; one barrier to progressing forward is the workforce shortage of credentialled health coaches to deliver the coursework at AWC, which we are actively working to remedy. B) Recrt into the SALUD. Program:This initiative is coordinated by the 2 program coord at each partner inst. The target audience for recrt are students in their 2ndor 3rdyear who are pursuing an A.A. in Exercise, Nutr and Wellness. Recrt efforts were also previously described in section 1A and 1B. In the SALUD. program, students from AWC participate in peer networking and mentoring by attending 3 special events with their UA peers where they engage in discussions focused on career and graduate school exploration and readiness. These meetings are attended by junior and senior level ugrds, 2 SALUD. grad student scholars, and a faculty member. Sp24 recrt efforts resulted in 4 part. joining our program, and 3 started their B.S. degree at UA in fall 2024. One challenge is that not all students who we recruit into the pipeline are interested in participating in our program activities. These prosp students are still engaged by our program coord/advisor through the transfer process. C) Summer Leadership Institute:Described above. D) 2+2 Articulation Agreement:In spring 2024, PD/Co-PDs worked collaboratively to review and update the 2+2 articulation agreements between AWC and UA. 2+2 with IVC- renewal in progress. Objective 2A: We are pending the outcome of a re-accreditation review for the Grad Program in Dietetics by ACEND. During this process we are exploring the possibility of offering our Dietetics graduate program specifically through the UA Yuma campus, rather than our current arrangement which involves delivering the program through the UA Online campus with 32 hrs/week on site learning in Yuma. Objective 2B: During the sp24 semester, Jesus participated in the SALUD. program by completing mentor training and attending our program events and interacting with ugrd students. In su24, 2 new SALUD. Scholars started in the PSM-Dietetics grad program and participated in activities at our summer leadership retreat and a STEM camp. Jesus graduated from the PSM Dietetics program in May 2024 and accepted a job offer at Onvida Health, the major hospital in Yuma, AZ. 3 students in Yuma applied to the PSM-Dietetics program for the 24-25 cohort and 2 were accepted. Follow up advising was provided to the other applicant on job opportunities and career advancement.PD LG delivered a 2-part orientation to the SALUD. Scholars program and discussed their funding and meets with the students an average of once per month. Both scholars have received their su24 and fa24 stipends. On May 1, Project PD LG and PSM-Program faculty visited senior ugrds in Yuma about the PSM program and SALUD. Scholars. There are 3 prosp applicants to the PSM-Dietetics program in Yuma, AZ who have indicated their intentions to apply and participate as SALUD. scholars for the cohort starting in Su25. Apps for the PSM program are due in Jan 2025. Jisselle and Elia attended the summer leadership workshop for ugrd students at UA Yuma in Su24 and participated in a summer STEAM camp. At this workshop, they were invited as guest speakers and presented about their college journey and career goals. They also designed and led a two-day team building activity in which ugrd leadership workshop attendees planned and prepared an activity for the ugrds. Jesus declined offers for support preparing for the RDN exam during Su24 after he graduated. Some exam prep activities were embedded in the new PSM courses by PD LG to support structured exam preparation prior to graduation, and specialized study materials for the RDN exam have been purchased and are available for our graduates including Jesus at UA-Yuma. Objective 3A: FANS has over 30 members from 12 different organizations. Over the past year, members of FANS provided over 500 hours of supervised experiential learning for SALUD. Scholar, Jesus, and undergraduate UA Nutr students at Onvida Health (formerly Yuma Regional Medical Center), Yuma Community Food Bank, Crane Schools, and Regional Center for Border Health. Objective 3B: During summer 2024, planning commenced for the Fall 2024 FANS meeting (scheduled for November 2024). The meeting will be held at the Yuma Community Food Bank on November 19 from 9:30-11:30 and over 30 FANS representing 12 organizations are on the invite list. This meeting will include program updates, stakeholder input activities, and a working lunch. The meeting findings will be reported to FANS after the meeting. Objective 3C: The formal FANS newsletter will be launched in Fall 2024 with 2 issues planned: 1 inaugural issue, and 1 issue disseminated at the November FANS meeting. The launch of the FANS initiative and newsletter was delayed due to delayed hiring and turnover in the UA SALUD. Coordinator position, but we were able to make strong progress on this in summer 2024 once we were fully staffed. For our Student Opportunity Portal, we determined through dialogue with stakeholders that they were unlikely to go into a system, such as a shared drive or portal, to post opportunities for students; instead, we have opted to have stakeholders share their student opportunities with our SALUD. program coordinator, who disseminates opportunities to students weekly and archives them for posterity. In our newsletter and at our FANS meetings, we share opportunities to engage with our students to foster the two-way communication channel to help increase student engagement with their organizations.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this year included: Graduate Students, undergraduate students, and k-12 audiences. Graduate Students: 1 graduate student was succesfully recruited and admitted into the program (initiative 2B). This student has been engaged in several professional and leadership devleopment activities beginning in summer 2022. Undergraduate Students (UArizona): Undergraudate at the University of Arizona have participated in graduate program information sessions and networking with graduate program faculty and staff (Initiative 2B). Undergraduate Students (AWC) and K-12: Program faculty and staff have done several recruitment and outreach activities to promote careers in FANH, and the B.S. in Nutritional Sciences, to these audiences (Initiative 1A). More activities to engage undergraduates at AWC are planned beginning in Spring 2024. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will be focusing on recruiting our first cohort of undergraduate students at AWC who are preparing to transfer to UArizona, and delivering our planned vertical mentoring program beginning in Spring 2024. We will also design and deliver the first Summer Leadership Institute. Information Sessions for recruitment:As we recognize the importance of the digital landscape, we have decided to host monthly virtual information sessions about the Nutritional Sciences major and careers. This approach ensures that we can reach out to a broader audience and promote inclusivity, thus allowing students from diverse backgrounds to explore the possibilities within our field. Starting in the fall of 2024, we plan to make these sessions a core part of our outreach strategy. The audience for these virtual sessions will be junior/senior high school and freshman/sophomore college students. We will continue course devleopment work to advance our syllabi to fully approved and devleoped courses. We will also be supporting work at AWC to submit applications to launch the planned health coacing certificate. We will onboard the SALUDABLES Project Coordinators who came on (Uarizona), and are in the process of being hired (AWC). These coordinators will support the coordination and delivery of the mentoring program for transfer students, summer leadership institute,increased recruitment and outreach activities, and communication and coordination of the FANS initiative. We will launch FANS newsletter communications and host our first in-person FANS event. We will admit and support up to 3 graduate students, and engage them in professional development and leadership activities, building from the work we did this year with our first graduate student. We will also engage the graduate students in the mentoring program, and k-14 recruitment and outreach activities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1 Initiative 1A: Event 1: STEAM Middle School Summer Academy-160middle school students. Event 2: Southwest Ag Summit, a High School Student event, had 100+ high school students participate in career exploration inc nutrition. Event 3: Arizona Western College classroom recruitment to Nutritional Science prerequisite classes. Transfer Workshops:Arizona Western College Career Day & College Transfer Day: Events include the AWC Transfer and Career Expo on October 18 (approximately 150 college students participated) and the UA Yuma Instant Decision Transfer. Initiative1B:Ahead of the fall 2023 semester, we successfully recruited 7 new students to the B.S. in Nutritional Sciences at UA-Yuma campus from AWC and Imperial Valley Community College, bringing the total number of students pursuing their B.S. in Nutritional Sciences to 14, as of fall 2023. Initiative 1C 1C.a. Health Coaching Classes in Collaboration with Arizona Western College (AWC): PD'sworked collaboratively in spring and fall 2023 to:Review the National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBCHWC) certificate curriculum requirements; outline curriculum to be covered in the courses to align with competencies for NBCHW coaches; develop syllabi for the health and wellness coaching courses. 1C.b. 1 Unit Careers Class in Collaboration with Arizona Western College (AWC): PD'sworked in spring 2023 to create the syllabus and calendar for new course. The syllabus was submitted for review at AWC by co-PD Peabody in October 2023 and is pending approval. This course will be used to formally recruit students into our nutrition and dietetics professionals pipeline and identify early prospects interested in transferring from AWC to UArizona to complete a B.S. in Nutritional Sciences. 1C.c. Recruitment into the first cohort of students at Arizona Western College into the vertical mentoring program will take place in early spring 2024. 1C.d. 2-Part Summer Leadership Institute: The first Summer Leadership Institute is planned for Summer 2024, with workshop planning and promotion to occur in Spring 2024. 1C.e. 2+2 Articulation Agreement: 2+2 articulation agreements were updated with AWC and Imperial Valley Community College in September 2023. AWC/IVC met in the summer of 2023 to update 8-semester plans for the 2023-2024 academic year; the associate degree was aligned with the prerequisite requirements for the major. 1C.f. Structured Networking Events: Spring 2023 Networking: On February 22, 2023, project PD's and nutritional sciences dietetics graduate program faculty and staff visited UA Yuma campus and hosted an information session to discuss the SALUDABLES project and how to be a competitive PSM applicant. Fall 2023 Networking Opportunity #1: On November 8, UA Yuma students participated in an annual virtual networking event called Cultivate Dietetics Networking Night.At this event, students interacted with at least 8 nutrition professionals from diverse backgrounds from across Arizona. Fall 2023 Networking Opportunity #2: On November 17, 2023, all students who transferred into the B.S. in Nutritional Sciences at UA Yuma for Fall 2023 were invited to visit UA Main Campus in Tucson to meet with several food and nutrition professionals. This trip was organized and led by project PD's and staff. ?Objective 2 Initiative 2A:The School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness is undergoing its self-study in the fall of 2023 for re-accreditation of its graduate program in dietetics by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). ACEND site reviewers will visit the UArizona in March 2024, at which time they will specifically review our request to offer our PSM program out of the UA-Yuma campus officially. In the meantime, the school already offers the PSM program in dietetics to students in Yuma through the UA-Online campus, with local experiential learning opportunities in Yuma County. Initiative 2B 2B.a. Graduate Student Experiential Learning and Outreach: During the spring 2024 semester, our graduate student, Jesus, will participate in the SALUDABLES Nutrition Mentoring and Transfer Program and will participate in k-14 recruitment activities as part of his graduate program experiential learning requirements with oversight from program faculty. 2B.b. Graduate Student Recruitment: In October 2022, Project PI Linares-Gaffer and PSM-Program faculty and staff visited senior undergraduates and alumni in Yuma about the PSM program and SALUDABLES. In November 2022, there were two applicants to the PSM program from Yuma, AZ. One, Jesus, was admitted to the program. There are currently three applicants to the PSM-Dietetics program 2024 cohort; after the selection process takes place, all accepted applicants in Yuma will be given a short application to apply to participate in SALUDABLES. 2B.c. Develop Graduate Student Mentoring and Leadership Competencies: New Courses: To align with the goals of this project, two new courses were implemented in the PSM-Dietetics program to embed mentoring and leadership competencies for all dietetics PSM students. The curriculum for these 1-unit courses requires the graduate studentsto develop their mentoring identity, peer mentoring, and professional and leadership development. These courses include matching graduate students with undergraduates for peer mentoring. Public Speaking Opportunities and Peer Role Modelling: During his first term in the PSM program, Jesus, a graduate student, was invited to a summer leadership workshop for undergraduate students at UArizona Yuma Campus in Summer 2023. Conference Travel: In October 2023, Jesus attended the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics annual meetingcalled the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Denver, Colorado, with PD's.At the event, Jesus attended several networking events, lectures, and the expo hall. He also worked several short shifts at the UArizona recruitment booth at the expo, where he promoted the PSM program and practiced his communication skills with a diverse audience of conference attendees. 2B.d. RDN Exam Bootcamp: An RDN exam bootcamp is planned for early Summer 2024 to support our graduate student, Jesus, with exam preparedness. Exam preparation activities are also embedded in the new PSM courses, NSC 564-Preparing for Professional Dietetics Practice II. Objective 3: Initiative3A.a and b. Efforts to start formally recruiting and engaging stakeholders in visioning for FANS began in Fall 2022 (October 19). During spring 2023, we recruited stakeholders to FANS during our Nutritional Sciences and Wellness Foods Lab ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was attended by over 50 stakeholders from organizations across Yuma County and beyond. In Fall 2023 (September 6), another FANS visioning session was held with UArizona faculty and staff, including cooperative extension professionals, administrators, faculty, and staff. Following that meeting, Initiative 3B:Leveraging insights and data collected from the events and discussions described in 3A.a. and b (above), the Project PDs/Co-PDs and SALUDABLES program coordinator will begin planning the first collective gathering for all of the FANS networking, tentatively planned for summer 2024. Initiative 3C. FANS advisory board SALUDABLES coordinators will support the launch of the formal FANS newsletter during the spring 2024 semester. Concurrent with this effort, the SALUDABLES Project coordinators at UArizona and AWC will create the Student Opportunity Portal and promote the opportunity to post job announcements and volunteer and internship opportunities for students to the stakeholders. As new opportunities are posted in the portal, each coordinator will promote them to the intended student audience at their respective institutions.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
https://nutrition.cales.arizona.edu/yuma-campus-initiatives
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
University of Arizona Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives Annual Report 2022. https://hsi.arizona.edu/annual-reports
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Overcoming the Dietitian Desert: Building the Rural Dietetics Pathway. Co-Presented on SALUDABLES at Arizona Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Meeting- May 20, 2023. Tucson, AZ.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Arizona Edition: New Grant Will Train Dieticians for Open Jobs in Rural Arizona https://www.kawc.org/podcast/arizona-edition/2022-11-07/arizona-edition-new-grant-will-train-dieticians-for-open-jobs-in-rural-arizona
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