Ithaca College

Recent graduates from Public and Community Health in the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance are publishing a data-based article related to a Service-Learning project in The International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society.

Elizabeth Jesch, Catherine Colgan, Katherine Perdomo, and Emily Pressman (’20) worked on the project led by Elizabeth Jesch and Catherine Colgan. This article was a part of a public health course taught by Dr. Srijana Bajracharya.

The title of the article is “Food Insecurity (FI) in Colleges and Universities: A Needs Assessment of Student Population.” Before submitting the manuscript for publication, the study was presented at the NCUR and the International Conference of Health, Wellness, and Society, in Paris, France in 2020.  This study was conducted in the spring semester of 2019. Out of 3,000 targeted randomly selected sample of Ithaca College students, 613 students filled out the survey regarding food insecurity issues and potential solutions. The results indicated that about 17% of surveyed students identified themselves as being food insecure. There was a significant difference in students’ perception of their diet and accessibility of food by their FI status while they were at college. Based on these findings, a set of recommendations was provided for student health programming and dining services at the college.