Session Details

Join dynamic performance expert Mark C. Perna as he unveils the groundbreaking innovations for working with today’s younger generations. Educators, employers, parents, and community leaders will benefit from these proven strategies to bridge the generational divide, engage and retain young people, and equip them with a powerful competitive advantage. 

Purposeful education is the heartbeat of this inspiring call to action. Students who experience education with purpose can then pursue passion-driven employment at all levels of learning and experience. Though they’re often painted in a negative light, they have incredible potential to change the world. We just have to unleash it. As the skills gap widens, we must tap into the vast creativity, intelligence, and potential of the next generation. 

A father to two successful young people, Mark delivers: 

Your organization can attract, engage, and empower the best young talent today. With practical generational insights, innovative best practices, and signature inspiration, Mark’s nationally acclaimed methods will open your eyes to the amazing promise of the younger generations. Supersize your outcomes with the younger generations and engage them in learning like never before! 

What happens when you combine the warmth of Friendsgiving with the expertise of campus dietitians and nutrition students? You get “Viv”—short for conviviality—a research-based dining program designed to foster connection through shared, family-style meals. In this session, attendees will learn how registered dietitians and undergraduate nutrition students transformed a pop-culture holiday into a community-building initiative rooted in public health research showing that communal meals improve physical health, mental well-being, and overall satisfaction. Launched with a Friendsgiving-themed event featuring a shared Thanksgiving menu served inside an all-you-care-to-eat dining room, Viv encourages students to step away from their phones and lean into conversation through collaborative ordering, thoughtfully portioned platters, and intentional presentation. Presenters will share how the program was developed from concept to execution, including cross-functional collaboration, ordering logistics, staff communication, aesthetic planning, and student involvement in menu creation, surveys, marketing, and logo design. Survey data and feedback will demonstrate strong outcomes, including high participation interest, increased sense of connection, and attendance exceeding expectations, with updated data forthcoming as the program enters its second year. Through the lens of Viv, this session offers practical takeaways for campuses interested in blending culinary creativity, nutrition research, and community engagement.

For Texas Tech Dining, engagement goes beyond the swipe. Through Transact Mobile, we built a connected loyalty program that rewards Red Raiders for every order, interaction, and click. In this session, Aimee Sales and Evan Wilson walk through the strategy behind Feeding Engagement, a marketing approach that turns mobile ordering into meaningful loyalty. The campaign focused on increasing repeat transactions and driving mobile adoption among both dining plan holders and commuters. The most effective communication tools proved to be integrated marketing campaigns that combined social media, digital advertising, and internal push notifications. Consistency was key, ensuring that every message reinforced the same goal: dine, earn, and engage. The results were immediate. Within the first month of the Fall 2025 semester, 70 percent of dining plan holders had adopted the Transact Mobile app. More than 11 million loyalty points were redeemed during the term, and off-campus partners quickly signed on for the next semester after seeing its success. These strategies are designed to increase sales, reduce unused dining bucks, and build a stronger connection with students, commuters, and staff. The long-term goal is to create an environment where every guest feels rewarded for dining on campus, building loyalty that grows exponentially with each new class of Red Raiders.

In today’s dynamic campus environments, food service is about far more than serving meals—it plays a critical role in building connection, fostering belonging, and advancing institutional mission. This session explores how campus dining operations can become intentionally interwoven with both the university and surrounding community to deliver exceptional service, drive engagement, and build lasting partnerships. Drawing on real-world examples and strategic frameworks, attendees will learn how to identify opportunities for collaboration, align dining initiatives with institutional priorities such as sustainability, equity, and student success, and cultivate relationships that extend beyond the dining hall. The discussion will highlight approaches to community collaboration, student-centered engagement, cultural relevance, and inclusive programming, along with tools for measuring impact and communicating value to stakeholders. Designed for dining leaders seeking deeper integration and influence, this session offers practical guidance for positioning food service at the heart of campus and community life.

This session takes a deep dive into the Student Leader Program at Campus Dining and Shops at the University at Buffalo, tracing its evolution from a student manager’s perspective to its current structure as a core operational and leadership development initiative. The presenter will share personal experience with the program and explain how Student Leaders serve as an extension of the management team by supporting training, coaching, and supervision while bridging communication between student employees and professional staff. Attendees will learn how the program shifted during COVID, why it required rebuilding post-pandemic, and how a cross-functional committee helped redesign it for long-term success. The session will walk through the current program framework, including leadership qualities sought, job expectations, selection and interview processes, and a two-tiered training model that balances organization-wide consistency with unit-specific needs. The discussion will also highlight the benefits for student employees, including skill development in communication, problem-solving, and team management, and how the program supports both operational success and student growth.

Technology is transforming college and university dining at an unprecedented pace, prompting programs to rethink not only how they operate, but why. This session explores how automation, robotics, and digital integration are reshaping the student experience, improving operational efficiency, and supporting sustainability across both front- and back-of-house operations. Campus dining leaders and vendor innovators will share practical insights on implementing autonomous technologies, including unattended retail, robotic delivery, and kitchen automation, and discuss how these tools are being used to extend service hours, strengthen safety, enhance sustainability, and create new engagement opportunities for students. Panelists will address the real-world considerations of adoption, from aligning innovation with campus culture to identifying the right problems technology can solve, balancing short-term needs with long-term strategy, and measuring success through data and analytics. The discussion will also examine workforce evolution, reframing automation as a way to support creativity, service, and labor reallocation rather than replacement. Designed for campus dining professionals, administrators, and industry partners, this session offers a clear view of how autonomous solutions can deliver convenience, flexibility, and quality while preserving the personal connection that defines campus hospitality.

As campus dining operations face shifting labor market trends, organizational restructuring, and rapid advancements in recruitment technology, the need for a dynamic and responsive hiring strategy has never been greater. This session explores Virginia Tech Dining Services’ evolving centralized hiring model—designed to balance data-driven decision-making with human-centered practices. Presenters Laura Pontier, Jessica Powell, and Andrea Miller will share how their team adapts to changing workforce conditions by integrating analytics, inclusive hiring frameworks, and scalable onboarding systems. Learn how a centralized approach can improve consistency, enhance candidate fit, and support long-term engagement across diverse dining units. Attendees will gain practical insights into aligning recruitment with operational goals, leveraging technology to streamline processes, and fostering a culture of belonging and growth. Whether you're navigating staffing shortages or reimagining your hiring structure, this session offers a roadmap for building resilient, people-focused teams in campus dining.

Janelle Craft brings over 20 years of marketing and operational experience in the Higher Education Food Services arena. Throughout her career, she has driven innovation and impact across districts and regions through her passion for quality service and student success. As Senior Director of Marketing and Student Experience Development for Chartwells Higher Education, Janelle oversees the Insights program, which gathers feedback from more than 100,000 students each year. These insights serve as the foundation for innovation, informing new programs, campaigns, and dining experiences that enhance student satisfaction and belonging on campus. Drawing from this data, Janelle has led the creation of several signature initiatives, including JoyFul, First Year Eats, and Supper Club, programs designed to spark joy through food, support first-year success, and celebrate connection through dining experiences. Together, these efforts exemplify how student insights can inspire meaningful change and shape the future of campus dining.

Colleges and universities collect vast amounts of student feedback, but the volume and unstructured nature of comments often make it difficult to identify clear priorities. This session explores how institutions are cutting through the noise by automating analysis of open-ended feedback to extract meaningful, actionable insights. Presenters Crista Martin of Harvard University and Sommer Dunlevy of Kent State University will share how their teams analyze unstructured data to identify themes, track trends over time, and generate reports that inform both strategic planning and day-to-day operations. Attendees will hear how these insights are used in leadership meetings, accountability reviews, and decision-making processes to build buy-in, prioritize initiatives, and demonstrate impact. Through real-world examples and best practices, this session provides a practical roadmap for transforming anecdotal student comments into data-driven insights that improve the student experience.

There is no single blueprint for creating a dining program that fully supports students with celiac disease, food allergies or other dietary needs, yet there are clear and consistent indicators of success. Across public and private institutions, both small and large, self-operated and those that utilize a third-party food service management company, campuses are finding innovative ways to ensure that students with dietary needs can dine safely, confidently, and inclusively. The challenge lies in determining which practices have the greatest impact and how to measure progress in a way that celebrates success rather than enforces uniformity.This session explores how benchmarking can help institutions identify and understand what “great” looks like within their own context. By examining patterns and insights from a range of campus dining programs, participants will learn how benchmarking highlights excellence across diverse institutional models. This presentation will educate attendees on how to use benchmarking to gain insights into college and university dining programs for students with special diets and food allergies, with a focus on using the Celiac College Guide and the NACUFS Benchmarking Survey as the primary tools for gathering and analyzing this information. A central focus of the session is the student perspective. Participants will gain a preview of what students are saying they value most in their dining experiences and how those insights can shape meaningful improvement. Rather than offering a checklist of answers, this session invites attendees to explore emerging themes together, uncovering what drives student trust, satisfaction, and inclusion on their own campuses within the dining program. Participants will also discover practical, low-cost strategies for applying benchmarking insights to daily practice. Examples will show how even small changes, such as refining labeling systems, establishing advisory groups, enhancing communication between dining and disability services, or gathering targeted feedback, can make a significant difference for students with dietary restrictions. These examples will come from a range of institutional types, showing that meaningful progress does not depend on size, structure, or budget. An interactive portion will provide time for attendees to share bright spots and innovative approaches from their own campuses. This exchange will highlight how benchmarking not only supports self-reflection but also fosters collaboration across institutions that share a commitment to inclusion and continuous improvement. Ultimately, this session positions benchmarking as a catalyst for learning and connection. By grounding their work in evidence, best practice, and authentic student perspectives, campus dining teams can celebrate their progress while identifying clear next steps for growth. Attendees will leave with new resources, insights, actionable strategies, and renewed confidence in their ability to strengthen dining programs for students managing celiac disease and other dietary needs.