WRCOS Statement on COS 2027

July 30, 2026

As August approaches, we at the Western Region Continuums of Service Consortium want to provide an update regarding the 2027 Continuums of Service Conference: The short version is that we are planning to hold a Western Region Gathering in June of 2027, and we will not hold the Conference in Utah in the spring of 2027. Several things informed this decision, notably changes in employment for regional leadership, capacity challenges and tightened budgets for travel in our respective states.

Importantly, we want to express our gratitude for the Advisory Committee who met over the course of several months to deliberate and discuss the state of this work and how to create a conference that is inclusive of diverse campuses and communities while being relevant and responsive to the needs of the students, partners, faculty, staff and administrators in our part of the world. That group was convened by Alexis Bucknam (formerly at Weber State University, now with Campus Compact) and Josh Vanek (Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement).

WRCOS 2027 Advisory Committee Members:

Carl Ackerman - Youth Service Hawaii
Karla Bird - University of Montana
Kara Brascia - Boise State University
Cassie Bingham - Utah Valley University
Mariko Yoshisato Cavey - University of Pittsburgh, Partnership for Student Success
Mark Este - Eastern Washington University
Bob Franco - Kapiolani Community College
Jenny Fukunaga - Loyola Marymount University
Chris Pascua - Hawaii
Greg Rulifson - University of Texas
Vinny Seepaul - University of San Diego
Andrea Vernon - University of Montana

All of us on our regional team realize we're at important points in our history, both in community engagement and in higher education in our states, in the work to create viable futures for collaborative statewide and regional work. Because of that, we've been convening to plan and strategize the future of Continuums of Service and our regional programming. Continuums of Service has a long and important history in our part of the world, and we want to preserve and strengthen that legacy. To that end, we’ve scheduled a regional leadership retreat at the end of September to develop a vision to honor the impact of COS and look ahead to what our region needs most and where we can best provide meaningful engagement to you, our partners. We appreciate your participation in this work, always welcome your ideas and will provide a further update this fall.