Join Sabrina Hafner, MS, RD, LDN (UMass Dining), Sharniquia White, MS, RD, LDN (Spartan Dining at UNC Greensboro), and Tiffany Leon, MS, RD (FARE) for a discussion on allergen safety in campus dining.

We’ll explore how campus dining staff confront daily operational challenges to ensure safety in high-volume environments, demanding attention to detail, transparency, and a culture of accountability. Rather than just discussing policy, the panelists will share successes and failures, pivots, and how they balance the tension between speed of service and student safety. We’ll show how dining directors, culinary leads, and dietitians actively bridge the gap between a written allergen policy and the physical plate of food to ensure the safety of the student.

Stay to the end to join the live Q&A. 

Leading with resilience amid constant dining changes -- including challenges related to recruitment, retention, and decline -- requires adopting a "quick pause" moment, where managers take a step back to make proactive decisions rather than reacting in a knee-jerk manner. Key strategies include prioritizing well-being, embracing emotional intelligence, being transparent, and identifying a mental safe space.

Learning Session + Q & A

From Notes to Next Steps: Learn how to help your team share the inspiration from NACUFS conference attendance with this microlearning video!

You can't send everyone to each opportunity NACUFS offers, but that doesn't mean the team shouldn't benefit from the experience of those who can attend. 

Rachel Stefancic, from The Ohio State University, explains how OSU prepares attendees ahead of conferences, so that they are prepared to gather knowledge and connections and return to campus ready to present what they learned.

In today’s rapidly shifting higher education landscape, long-term success depends on leadership that understands how to adapt quickly. Drawing from her Win-Win Workplace Framework and her New York Times bestselling book, Dr. Angela Jackson shares strategies for building agile leadership teams that thrive in complexity. Explore how to activate frontline leaders, strengthen decision-making, and create leadership models that adapt quickly to change.

Learning Objective: Apply strategies for building agile leadership teams, empowering frontline leaders, and strengthening decision-making to effectively navigate complexity and drive institutional adaptability. 

This webinar is a part of the Talent Management and Professional Intelligence learning domains within the NACUFS Body of Knowledge.

Executive Leadership Webinar Series 2025: Leading Through Change

Advance your leadership skills and adapt to today’s rapidly changing higher education environment.

This three-part series is designed for senior dining leaders who seek to lead with purpose, agility, and vision during times of transformation. Hear directly from thought leaders who will explore data-driven decision-making, purpose-centered leadership, and building agile, effective teams.

Part 1: Adapting to Rapidly Changing Higher Education Landscape & the Role of Data 

• Dr. Drew Allen, Associate Provost for Institutional Research & Analytics, Harvard University

Part 2: Leading with Purpose to Build Resilient Organizations

• Dr. Ryan P. Brown, Managing Director for Measurement, The Doerr Institute for New Leaders, Rice University

Part 3: The Win-Win Workplace: Creating Agile and Effective Leadership Teams 

• Dr. Angela Jackson, Best-Selling Author, Senior Adviser to the Harvard Project on Workforce, and founder of Future Forward Strategies

Gain actionable insights that connect personal growth with organizational success.

Foodservice in higher education is always growing and changing to meet the needs of our students. Construction and renovation are a big piece of this change.  In this webinar, we will look at the different stages of projects from design to schematics, along with who to involve as stakeholders, as well as the financial impact of the project.

Geared towards Dining Directors, Auxiliary Directors, Associate Directors, Operations Managers, and anyone involved in capital planning (finance people, marketing, etc.), this recorded webinar will cover the following learning objectives. 

• Describe the key stages of a construction or renovation project, from initial concept to schematic design.

• Identify essential campus and external stakeholders to involve at each phase of the project.

• Evaluate the financial considerations and budget impacts of facility updates in collegiate dining operations.

This webinar, recorded Dec 2, 2025, will help attendees consider their own purpose in life and how this purpose relates to their roles as leaders. It will guide participants through a process to craft a personalized, powerful purpose statement and relate it to each area of their lives. In addition, this presentation will cover how leaders can lead their teams and organizations in purpose-centered ways, such as having purpose-based discussions with their direct reports and organizing personal and professional goals around a person’s purpose. Key benefits that might result from leading with purpose include increased resilience, reduced professional burnout, greater self-awareness, and more effective goal-setting.

Learning Objective: Attendees will be able to create and articulate a personalized leadership purpose statement and apply strategies to enhance team resilience and align institutional goals with individual and collective purpose.

The Leading with Purpose webinar is a part of the Professional Intelligence learning domain within the NACUFS Body of Knowledge.

This microlearning includes the Student Stress Calendar and a three-minute introductory video featuring Ginnie Dunleavy from the Rhode Island School of Design. She explains the purpose of the calendar and how it is utilized for staff training to enhance student outcomes at her institution.

Higher education leaders are confronting challenges at an unprecedented pace. Beyond developing and executing data-informed strategic plans, building effective teams, and communicating across complex organizations, many now find themselves serving as crisis managers. 

This webinar examines how leaders can adapt to this rapidly evolving landscape—and how data can be leveraged as a powerful tool in the process. Dr. Drew Allen, Associate Provost for Institutional Research and Analytics at Harvard University, highlights ways data and information can support effective leadership in times of change.

Part of the Business Administration and Professional Intelligence domains within the NACUFS Body of Knowledge. This Executive Leadership webinar was recorded live on November 20, 2025, and is the first in the Leading Through Change series.

Learning Objective: Attendees will be able to identify and apply data-informed strategies to lead effectively through organizational change and crisis, leveraging data to enhance team performance, strategic planning, and cross-functional communication within higher education environments.

How well-regarded is your dining program?  Who knows your incredible stories, programs, and people?  In these trying times when resources may be scarce, it is paramount that our stories be told at every level: Internally, on campus, locally, and even nationally.  It has been said that "It's not who you know, but who knows YOU!"  In this presentation, you will hear actionable ideas from across the country and best practices from leading dining programs.  You will also learn how to categorize storytelling examples based on various criteria to develop and deploy a comprehensive strategy.

This session will highlight the need and benefits of storytelling, explore target audiences, and help build a strategy for your program.

This learning session is geared towards dining directors and marketing teams, and will include a live Q&A after the presentation. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Leverage storytelling to enhance your dining program’s visibility and influence.

2. Identify audience segments and craft targeted messages that resonate across different levels.

3. Create a storytelling strategy based on best practices and real-world examples.

Sponsored by Bergmeyer