NASPA Online Learning Community

VPSA & AVP Colleague Conversation: Leading Through the 2026 Election: What Student Affairs Leaders Need to Know

VPSA & AVP Colleague Conversation: Leading Through the 2026 Election: What Student Affairs Leaders Need to Know

Includes a Live Web Event on 10/15/2026 at 4:00 PM (EDT)

Learning Outcomes:

• Provide current context on the 2026 election environment as it relates to college students and higher education.

• Identify issues student affairs leaders should be anticipating before, during and following the election.

• Explore the role of student affairs in supporting nonpartisan voter education, student engagement and access to accurate information.

• Create space for colleagues to discuss campus preparedness, emerging challenges and practical approaches.

Rebekah Caruthers

Rebekah Caruthers

President & CEO

Fair Elections Center

Rebekah Caruthers is President & CEO at Far Elections Center, a national nonpartisan voting rights organization. She served as Vice President and Executive Vice President for over four years before taking over the helm. She brings over two decades of leadership in electoral and issue campaigns across the country. Caruthers has worked with MoveOn.org. Everytown for Gun Safety, the National Democratic Training Committee, Equal Justice Works, and the National Network for Arab American Communities.

Caruthers worked on federal health care policy for Congressman John Dingell and then went on to direct lobbying efforts on tax, energy, and manufacturing issues for a DC based trade association. In leading Fair Elections Center, she works to strengthen initiatives such as the Voting Rights Project, Campus Vote Project, and Work Elections project, while introducing innovative strategies to protect voters nationwide.

She appears on national and international media and is a regular contributor for Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show.

Caruthers studied law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, studied abroad in South Africa through Howard University School of Law, and Creighton University for her undergraduate studies. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Metropolitan (DC) Chapter of the Links, Inc., and the DC Bar.

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