Meet the Team
Dr. Megan Bever, PhD
[email protected]
|
Dr. Andrea Cullers, PhD, RD
[email protected] |
Amber Carr, MLS
[email protected] |
Our History
Three professors at Missouri Southern State University founded the Lion Co-op in 2018. It began when Doctors Megan Bever, Andrea Cullers, and Renee Pope White, when all became concerned about food insecurity in the MSSU community. The three professors networked with one another through MSSU's Office of Institutional Effectiveness and came up with an idea that would benefit both students and employees at MSSU.
During the Fall 2018 semester, Professors Bever, Cullers, and White launched the Lion Co-op, a food and personal hygiene pantry open to all students, faculty, and staff at MSSU. Administrators allocated the Co-op a space within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shelter located next to the Quads on the residence side of campus. The professors designed the Co-op’s pantry to serve as a stop-gap measure for students and staff with immediate needs – many of whom live in local counties within the tri-state region (Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma).
In addition to the Co-op’s pantry, the founders established the Lion Co-op to focus on experiential learning, offering classes, internships, and student-faculty research investigating more systemic solutions to food insecurity on university campuses and in the tri-state region.
The Lion Co-op has since moved locations to the 3rd floor of MSSU’s Spiva Library. In Spring 2022, the current faculty advisors - Bever, Cullers, and Amber Carr (Assistant Director of Spiva Library) - renamed the pantry the Lion Co-op Center for Nutrition Security.
During the Fall 2018 semester, Professors Bever, Cullers, and White launched the Lion Co-op, a food and personal hygiene pantry open to all students, faculty, and staff at MSSU. Administrators allocated the Co-op a space within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shelter located next to the Quads on the residence side of campus. The professors designed the Co-op’s pantry to serve as a stop-gap measure for students and staff with immediate needs – many of whom live in local counties within the tri-state region (Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma).
In addition to the Co-op’s pantry, the founders established the Lion Co-op to focus on experiential learning, offering classes, internships, and student-faculty research investigating more systemic solutions to food insecurity on university campuses and in the tri-state region.
The Lion Co-op has since moved locations to the 3rd floor of MSSU’s Spiva Library. In Spring 2022, the current faculty advisors - Bever, Cullers, and Amber Carr (Assistant Director of Spiva Library) - renamed the pantry the Lion Co-op Center for Nutrition Security.
