Vibe Check: Engaging Gen Z and Alpha Without the Awkward

Description

Learning Objectives

• Examine how Gen Z and Alpha’s values around technology, inclusivity, and self-expression influence their communication, learning preferences, and ideas about health and wellness.
• Apply evidence-based strategies to strengthen Gen Z and Alpha’s resilience, adaptability, stress management, and motivation across academic, health, and life settings.
• Design interactive, learner-centered experiences that cultivate Gen Z and Alpha’s resilience, self-awareness, and problem-solving through relevance, engagement, and personalization.

Performance Indicators

• 3.1.3 Tailors messages and communication methods to meet the needs of target audiences.
• 5.2.1 Identifies potential or existing opportunities and challenges.
• 7.8.3 Contributes to student learning by creating and implementing activities and environments that encourage active learning and joint student/teacher engagement.

Speakers

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  Anna Cahn

  Assistant Professor, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

  Anna Cahn, PhD, RDN, CLEC, is an Assistant Professor in the Food Science and Nutrition Department within the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Her background includes Master of Science degrees in both nutritional science and prevention science and a doctoral degree in prevention science from the University of Oregon. Her graduate work focused on nutrition knowledge and behavior change, assessing rural food environments, and analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' food security and eating behaviors. She is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, and before her doctoral degree worked for the WIC program in Los Angeles. Anna has a varied background in nutrition that spans from pregnancy through adulthood and has worked with populations in rural and urban areas. She has used her expertise as a dietitian and prevention scientist to work in community clinics, as a researcher, instructor and currently serves as a member of the Commission on Dietetic Registration’s RDN and DTR exam panel.

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  Emily Kiresich

  Associate Professor of Nutrition, DPD Director, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

  Dr. Kiresich is an Associate Professor of Nutrition at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She currently serves as the Director of the DPD Program (since 2021) and has been an educator at 4-year institutions for 13 years, serving as DPD Director and ISPP Internship Director for 7 of those years. She has been active in local and state Dietetics Professional organizations for more than 20 years, holding leadership positions at the district level for 8 years and at the CA Academy for 4 years. Dr. Kiresich worked in Clinical nutrition, serving in-patient, outpatient, long-term care, and food services applications for 10 years, and in community nutrition as a researcher and interventionist for the past 10 years. In her community work, she has served low-income communities in Southern California as part of the Community and Translational Research Institute team, in coordination with Claremont Graduate University and Heluna Health. Her community, educational, and research interests include the ecology of health, with a focus on the food environment and access; policy; intervention science; and nutrition education. Additionally, she is interested in dietetics education research that supports advancing educational approaches to create thoughtful, well-prepared health professionals in the future.

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Moderator

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  Tamara Randall

  Instructor and DI Director, Case Western Reserve University

  Tammy Randall is an Instructor in the Department of Nutrition and Director of the MS in Public Health Nutrition Dietetic Internship program at Case Western Reserve University where she teaches classes on public health nutrition and diabetes prevention and management. Tammy has been recognized for her teaching and mentoring, recently being named NDEP’s North Central Outstanding Dietetic Educator in a Dietetic Internship and the recipient of Case Western Reserve University's J. Bruce Jackson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring. Tammy previously held roles in clinical as well as community settings. She was an inpatient diabetes educator for the Cleveland Clinic’s Endocrinology and Metabolism Institute, Director of Education at the Diabetes Partnership of Cleveland, and an Extension Educator for the Ohio State University Cooperative Extension Service. Tammy has served the profession in a number of volunteer leadership roles including President of both the Greater Cleveland Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Ohio Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Speaker of the Academy’s House of Delegates, Chair of the Member Services Advisory Committee and member of CDR’s Exam Panel. Tammy will serve as President of the Academy for 2026-2027.

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