In this installment of NACCU’s “It’s All About the Data” video series, Georgia Southern University’s Director of Eagle Card Services, Richard Wynn, discusses how the card office can contribute to the all-important task of student retention. In the video, Wynn discusses key areas of focus like dining and meal plan data, student usage trends, and the evolving ideas around the role a university can play in using data to assist students in need.

Central Michigan University has launched a meal swipe donation program designed to help hungry students on campus. The meal swipe donation program will enable students to donate unused guest swipes to fellow students facing food insecurity, with donated swipes being be placed into a bank from which meals can be dispersed to students in need.

Indiana University has announced a collaboration with Grubhub to take effect this week that will offer students the ability to place mobile orders from on-campus dining locations. The partnership is supporting food orders for pick-up through the Grubhub app and will include on-campus dining locations and a campus C-store.

Nebraska state Senator Sue Crawford has proposed a bill in the state that would mandate the printing of suicide prevention hotlines on all student ID cards. Crawford’s LB1001 will require all public schools in the state, from middle school through to university and post-secondary institutions, to print a suicide prevention hotline or crisis line on all new student ID cards.

Last spring, the University of New Mexico began issuing new proximity cards to students, faculty and staff as part of an effort to enhance campus security. Starting January 20, all members of the UNM community will be required to obtain the new prox card to meet new access control upgrades on campus.

It was announced this week that the Transact Mobile Credential now boasts native support for Google Pay, with the mobile credential experience expected to improve significantly for Android users. One of the first in a group of fifteen campuses set to deploy Mobile Credential for Google Pay, Mercer University, is already prepping for launch.

BadgePass, Inc. has announced its strategic merger with Alabama Card Systems, effective immediately. The move will see the latter be absorbed under the BadgePass name. The acquisition of Alabama Card Systems marks the seventh merger or acquisition in the last five years.

Security products and solutions provider, Allegion, has announced a new integration with card system vendor, CBORD, that strengthens perimeter security across colleges and university campuses. The integration will apply to campuses in the U.S. and will see Allegion’s Von Duprin Remote Undogging (RU) and Remote Monitoring (RM) options further extend the impact of CBORD’s card system software by enabling greater control of secondary doors and perimeter access.

The Transact Mobile Credential now offers native support for campus IDs in Google Pay on Android phones. The announcement from Transact means that Mobile Credential now creates a seamless Android user experience for secure access to facilities and residence halls, as well as payments for dining, laundry, vending and retail.

A startup company founded by two robotics experts at the University of Michigan is attempting to break into the recently expanding arena of robot delivery with a new delivery robot concept. Refraction has launched its autonomous delivery robot, the REV-1, and is delivering food orders from four independent restaurants within in a 2.5-mile radius of Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan.