Siena College
04/10/2026 | News release | Archived content
Saints Tackle a Key Question at a Regional Conference
A team of Saints from the Nonprofit Excellence and Transformation Fellowship (NExT) presented on healthy relationship programming for students at the annual Capital District Feminist Studies Consortium Conference.
Talia Narzymski '26, Kira Forget '28, and Markus Tompkins '27 presented their findings on a key question: How can Siena increase student engagement with programming while supporting whole-person development in line with its Franciscan mission? The conference was held March 25 at Russell Sage College in Troy.
To assess gaps in student understanding and needs, the NExT fellows analyzed data from the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment that was distributed at Siena, created social media posts and events, researched potential clubs to collaborate with, and developed materials for engaging workshops and activities.
Their presentation and deliverables were also based on the work the team completed with two other NExT fellows, Kristen Kiernan '25 and Matt Osborn '26.
NExT Fellows, who are Siena students from any year and major interested in community engagement and supporting nonprofits for academic credit, meet weekly to address research and consultation questions for nonprofit partners. Sometimes, as in this case, their partners may be on campus: the Title IX Office and Student Life.
To assess gaps in student understanding and needs, the NExT fellows analyzed data from the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment that was distributed at Siena, created social media posts and events, researched potential clubs to collaborate with, and developed materials for engaging workshops and activities.
Their presentation and deliverables were also based on the work the team completed with two other NExT fellows, Kristen Kiernan '25 and Matt Osborn '26.
NExT Fellows, who are Siena students from any year and major interested in community engagement and supporting nonprofits for academic credit, meet weekly to address research and consultation questions for nonprofit partners. Sometimes, as in this case, their partners may be on campus: the Title IX Office and Student Life.
"Working with our NExT group provided us the invaluable opportunity to get feedback directly from students, brainstorm ways to expand our reach on campus, and meet students where they are to provide them with resources that inform and support them," said Sam Faiella, associate dean of students and Sr. Deputy Title IX and Title VII Coordinator. "The work that the group accomplished in two semesters will positively contribute to the Siena community for years to come."
Mairead Carr, who runs NExT through Siena's Center for Academic Community Engagement, said, "several scholars stopped me to share how impressed they were with the NExT Fellows' analysis and support for the Siena community. It always makes me happy when students, who tirelessly research and construct deliverables for their partners, get to hear from others how amazing their work truly is."
Forget said that her biggest takeaway from the conference is that "it is important to keep learning - and to share your own learning with others," while Tompkins added that he "gained a clearer vision for what I want to do moving forward with school and in my future career."
The team's solutions for indirect messaging about health relationships, dialogue programming, and social media outreach can help students build skills needed to address roommate conflicts, support their budding relationships with colleagues, and aid in building healthy boundaries for every other kind of personal relationship.
Team leader Narzymski expressed pride in her team and their success, adding, "I am especially grateful for the Title IX and Student Life's Offices for their collaboration. I also want to shout out Cathy Dockum from Health Promotions, who was very supportive of us throughout this project, Professor Mairead Carr, our faculty mentors, and our fellow NExT students."
Siena College published this content on April 10, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 14, 2026 at 14:21 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]