Each week the Division of Student Affairs sends out The Paw Print, which will provide you with updates on key areas and events that you can engage in virtually. An archive of each week's announcement will be kept here.
Engaging in stimulating activities outside of the classroom is just as important to support your overall health and wellbeing as attending classes and studying for your exams. Northwestern provides an endless array of engaging events for little or no cost. These opportunities allow for connecting with new people and learning in a way you may not have otherwise.
Every event provides some way to foster an area of your wellbeing whether it’s a movie screening, speaker panel, sporting event, or even Dillo Day! Give yourself the time to enjoy these opportunities. It just may be what sends you on a new path you never could see before.
To see a full listing of Wellness events click here.
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours! This is an open space for students to come and ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more.
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours to provide support while students take the 2025 Campus Climate Survey. This is an open space for students to come take the survey and process it with CARE staff as needed. Students will also have the opportunity to ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more.
7:00 PM - 8:15 PM, Evanston
📚✨ Looking for a chill, no-pressure way to enjoy reading without the distractions of tech? Join byoBook: NU’S Silent Book Group. Bring your favorite book (or grab one from us), settle in with cozy vibes, and enjoy quiet reading time alongside fellow book lovers. No assigned books, no discussions—just snacks, good company, and your next great read. Snacks provided—just bring yourself! Register today!
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Chicago
Join the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) for our April Current Issues in LGBTQ Health lecture, Policies That Impact Adolescent Health: A Deep Dive Into Minor Consent Laws, featuring Kimberly Nelson, PhD. About the Lecture In the United States (US), adolescents are significantly burdened by sexual and mental health concerns. Sexual, gender, and racial/ethnic minoritized adolescents are disproportionately affected. Guardian consent requirements are a significant barrier to care for minors who are unable or unwilling to involve their guardian when they are seeking sexual and mental health services. To address this obstacle, states have enacted statutes granting minors legal capacity to consent to sexual and mental health services without their guardians’ consent. This talk will include a detailed overview of the history of minor consent laws for mental health, substance use, and HIV/STI services in the US as well as survey data with adolescents from across the US about their knowledge of the HIV/STI laws and how that knowledge relates to their use of HIV/STI services. About the Speaker Kimberly M. Nelson, PhD, MPH earned her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Washington (UW) and a PhD in clinical psychology also from UW. She is also faculty of the Fordham University Research Ethics Training Institute. Having both a public health and psychology background, Dr. Nelson's research focuses on understanding and intervening on psychological and structural determinants of health inequities with a particular focus on sexual health inequities among marginalized adolescents and adults. Additionally, her work focuses on the ethical and legal issues involved in sexual health research and interventions with adolescents and ways to use technology effectively and ethically for data collection and health promotion interventions.
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE and Alyssa Bokotey from YWCA for an interactive workshop on reapproaching pleasure after experiences of violence. This workshop will address navigating pleasure and relationships, discuss self-exploration, and invite participants to reflect on what brings them pleasure, joy, and connection. All are welcome to attend.
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours! This is an open space for students to come and ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more. CARE staff is also available to provide support for students taking the 2025 Campus Climate Survey.
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours to provide support while students take the 2025 Campus Climate Survey. This is an open space for students to come take the survey and process it with CARE staff as needed. Students will also have the opportunity to ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more.
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM, Evanston
Monday, May 5 | 6-7:30pm | Parkes 120 The connection between sexuality and spirituality can be… complicated. For some, sexuality is a meaningful expression of their spiritual life. For others, it may feel limiting—or even excluded altogether. Many people experience tension or feel like outsiders when exploring sexual identity within spiritual spaces. Join us for dinner and an open, spirited conversation with Chris Stedman, writer, podcaster, professor, and LGBTQIA+ mutual aid advocate, as we unpack these intersections together. Dinner provided! RSVP by May 4. https://forms.gle/oTkVvVcNYq1TUHu68
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours to provide support while students take the 2025 Campus Climate Survey. This is an open space for students to come take the survey and process it with CARE staff as needed. Students will also have the opportunity to ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more.
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours! This is an open space for students to come and ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more. CARE staff is also available to provide support for students taking the 2025 Campus Climate Survey.
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours! This is an open space for students to come and ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more. CARE staff is also available to provide support for students taking the 2025 Campus Climate Survey.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Chicago
Please join us at ISGMH for the 2025 Postdoctoral Scholar Showcase! This year's showcase features presentations on research done by five of the Institute's postdoctoral scholars. About the Showcase Venue-Level Drivers of HIV Risk Emily Esposito, PhD Address Key Issues in HIV Self-Testing Program Implementation for Black and Latino Sexual Minority Men in the Southern United States John Guigayoma, PhD Policy Levers to Improve Syndemic (HIV/SUD/MH) Health Service Delivery in the US Health Care Safety Net Timothy Levengood, PhD, MPH Acculturative Stress, Mental Health and HIV Prevention among Hispanic Immigrant Sexual Minority Men: An Integrated Model of Minority Stress and Acculturation Jonathan Lopez-Matos, PhD Engaging Youth in HIV Prevention: A Pathway to Scalable & Sustainable Community-Led Interventions Mariajose Paton, PhD About the Speakers Emily Esposito, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, working under the mentorship of Dr. Michelle Birkett. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology and chemistry from Rutgers University, a master's degree in general psychology from the City College of New York, and a doctoral degree in social psychology with a subspecialty in diversity and inequality from the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on the contextual and psychological mechanisms related to health and wellbeing outcomes among marginalized populations, with a focus on sexual and gender minority people. John Guigayoma, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He has an undergraduate degree from UCLA, a master’s in public health from UC Berkeley, and a doctoral degree in Behavioral and Social Health Science from the Brown University School of Public Health. His research interests focus on implementation science for HIV prevention and care among sexual and gender minorities. Before his public health research career, he worked in project management for HIV programs at community-based organizations in California. Tim Levengood, PhD, MPH, is a first-year postdoctoral fellow studying under Brian Mustanski, PhD. Levengood completed his PhD in Health Services and Policy Research at Boston University School of Public Health. Prior to that, he worked as an ORISE fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Community Guide Branch, conducting systematic reviews on chronic disease management that informed recommendations of the Community Preventive Services Task Force. His work focuses on policy and financial incentives that affect the uptake and sustainability of HIV and behavioral health services, with a particular focus on improving access for low-income and socially marginalized individuals. He uses econometric, systematic review, and implementation science methods to study provider organization service delivery. His dissertation, and ongoing work, examines the relevance of the 340B Drug Pricing Program for access to syndemic health services in safety-net care settings. Jonathan Lopez-Matos, PhD, completed a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and an M.A. in General Psychology at CUNY-Hunter College in New York City, and a PhD in Health Psychology at the CUNY-Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and (ISGMH) at Northwestern university in Chicago. Jonathan has vast experience working in various not-for-profit organizations in the United States, including Puerto Rico, focusing on mental and sexual health among marginalized sexual, gender, and racial underserved LGBTQ+ populations. Additionally, he has worked as an adjunct professor and guest speaker with different academic agencies, has served as a Research Assistant at various research centers in NYC and PR, as a Health Educator in community-based organizations, and have managed pilot studies and large-scale grants funded by the National Institutes of Health aiming to develop interventions and programming to reduce health inequities and improve positive mental health outcomes among self-identified LGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Recently, he has focused his research work on minority stress, acculturation, and immigrant Latinx sexual and gender minority’s’ health. Mariajose Paton, PhD, works with the Teen Health Lab on projects such as a social marketing campaign empowering youth with PrEP knowledge, a digital health intervention to promote HIV testing among teens, and the development of “prebunking” videos to combat misinformation about HIV vaccines. Paton also works with Sociostructural Implementation Science Coordination Initiative (SISCI) primarily in the development and evaluation of implementation science trainings addressing social determinants of health that affect HIV outcomes. She believes community-driven solutions are the key to ending the epidemic, and she values community-engaged methods in her HIV prevention research.
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours! This is an open space for students to come and ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more. CARE staff is also available to provide support for students taking the 2025 Campus Climate Survey.
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Evanston
Join CARE staff during drop-in hours to provide support while students take the 2025 Campus Climate Survey. This is an open space for students to come take the survey and process it with CARE staff as needed. Students will also have the opportunity to ask questions about CARE services, chat about sexual health and wellness, learn about supporting survivors, and access free resources on consent, sexuality, interpersonal violence, and more.