Claire Allison Named New Assistant Director for the Center for Community Engagement

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The Center for Community Engagement is pleased to announce Claire Allison as its new assistant director!

As part of this new position, Allison will oversee the Volunteer Action Center's signature food and mentoring programs, including supervising its staff members and advising student volunteers.

Originally joining the center in 2014 as its Food Programs graduate assistant, Allison was responsible for coordinating the operations and programming of the Pantry, creating and developing the food recovery program, and building university and external partnerships to ensure the continued functioning of both.

Allison also has extensive experience in her previous role as the program coordinator for the Center's Campus Hunger Initiative, where she implemented a new food programs model at partnering Higher Education campuses, oversaw the funding uses for the Full Circle Pantry and Razorback Food Recovery programs, and coordinated the first national Food Waste and Hunger Summit conference.

Outside of her work with the Center, Claire earned her B.A. in environmental studies from Hendrix College while serving as the project coordinator for the Urban Stream Restoration Initiative of the Kings River Watershed Partnership. While serving as the center's graduate assistant, she also completed her Master in Public Administration and Nonprofit Studies.

Allison has been awarded the "Outstanding New Professional" distinction and the "Innovative Program Award" by the NASPA Organization of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and was listed as one of the Arkansas Business Journal's "New Influentials: 20 in their 20's" in 2016. She serves as a member of the StreamSmart water quality monitoring team of the Ozarks Water Watch Foundation, a board member of the Emergency Feeding and Shelter Program under the Northwest Arkansas United Way, and an appointed mayor of the Environmental Action Committee of the Fayetteville City Council.

"We are thrilled to have Claire Allison serve as our assistant director. She has already impacted the growth of the Center for Community Engagement as a graduate assistant and program coordinator, I look forward to working alongside her in this new role. There are good things to come as we continue to serve students and engage them in service to Northwest Arkansas," stated Angela Oxford, the center's director.