NU Parents is a robust affinity group for faculty and staff that are working parents or caregivers.
Membership is open to all Northeastern faculty and staff who are parents, caregivers or expecting parents! We know that parenting is the hardest job and a lifelong job. We will have events and resources for each phase of parenthood, whether you are still changing diapers, teaching your teenager how to drive a car or if your child has left the nest. Join our community for events, social networking, and mentoring. It takes a village to raise a child – join our village.
Mission & History
The mission of NU Parents is to provide personal and professional development for working parents and caregivers to create a strong network of fulfilled members at Northeastern University.
NU Parents began as a group in 2011 of 4 women who gathered for lunch occasionally and discussed new parenthood situations. As women started inviting their friends, this group grew to 65 women across Northeastern colleges and departments. This group called themselves NU MOMS. NU MOMS was responsible for petitioning Northeastern to improve their parental leave policy, which was launched in November 2018. Today, we affirm ourselves as an inclusive group to all parents and caregivers at Northeastern. As of September 2023, we are a group of 430 people across all of Northeastern Global campuses.
Objectives
- Participants will:
- Define professional goals and motivations
- Identify subgroups based on identities and affiliations
- Create leads of committees to fulfill the goals
- Expand their personal and professional networks
- Strive to enhance a sense of community among staff and faculty who are working parents
Goals
- To provide professional development opportunities for faculty and staff parents through events, mentoring, social networking, and other resources.
- To create subgroups within NU Parents which will provide resources and networking within similar phases of parenting.
- To create networks for ongoing dialogue on issues impacting professional and career development and policy change.
- To advocate for the working parents of Northeastern, making Northeastern an “employer of choice.”
Events
NUParents hosts a variety of recurring events to engage all working parents at Northeastern including monthly luncheons and book club discussions.
In addition, NUParents hosts semesterly personal and professional development events.
Leadership Committee
- Alison Nogueira: a.nogueira@northeastern.edu
- Melissa Peikin: m.peikin@northeastern.edu
Connect with Us
Join the NUParents Group on Microsoft Teams. This is the space to share resources, provide input and build community. There are also sub-groups to join based on your stage of parenting.
Affinity Group Leadership
Director of Undergraduate Experiential Learning, Senior Co-op Coordinator
Role in affinity group: Co-founder, assists with programming and community building
Melissa Peikin, Director of Undergraduate Co-op, Khoury College of Computer Sciences. My role is to manage the undergraduate co-op team, and I also work with a cohort of students, employers and teach sections of our co-op preparation class. I’m one of the co-founders of NUparents and work on the leadership team to assist with programming and community building.
Senior Director of Co-op, Senior Co-op Coordinator, COE Distinguished Faculty, College of Engineering
Role in affinity group: Co-founder and Co-chair
Alison Nogueira, Senior Director of College of Engineering Co-op. My role is to partner with the COE Assistant Dean of Co-op to lead the COE co-op program and manage the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering undergraduate and graduate co-op team/program. I also advise a cohort of students, employers and teach the Introduction to Cooperative Education course. I am one of the co-founders and current co-chair of NUParents.