Elaina Eakle
ehe001@marietta.edu
The 2016 McDonough Leadership Conference will focus on the theme of leadership as social responsibility, and will introduce new elements to the tradition.
The conference, which will be held April 1-2, will feature three keynote speakers. Steven Davis, the former chairman and C.E.O. of Bob Evans Farms, Inc., will cover the topic of corporate social responsibility. Sehrish Naseem, project officer at NDI Pakistan, will discuss women leading transitions in society. Heather Taylor-Miesle, the executive director of the Environmental Council, will explore social responsibility as it applies to environmental issues. The conference will also incorporate multiple graduate student presentations, including a presentation by Rhodes Scholar Alexander Diaz.
In addition to speakers and workshops, the conference will include two new elements. First, students will have the opportunity to attend a career connection event on April 1. According to Gama Perruci, dean of McDonough Center and McCoy professor of leadership studies, the primary purpose of this event is to assist students with networking.
“This is a chance for businesses to send representatives, and the students bring their resumes, so it’s a recruitment opportunity,” he said.
Perruci hopes that this event will encourage students to become involved in future leadership opportunities.
“I am very excited about the career connection as a new initiative because I think it also connects to the undergraduate students thinking about next steps,” he said. “My vision of this conference is that it will become the place where undergraduate students have an opportunity to not only learn leadership, but also explore opportunities for future leadership, so the career connection is an important component of that.”
Also new to the conference, the final round of PioBiz business plan competition presentations will be held, in which students will pitch their ideas for new businesses with the winning team receiving up to $10,000.
Perucci expects attendance at the conference to be significantly higher than past years.
“Two years ago, we had nine institutions represented,” he said. “This year we’re expecting about 22.”
The conference is primarily student-directed, led by junior Emily Drabeck, conference chair, and sophomore Taryn Hicks, assistant conference chair.
Drabeck believes that the conference offers MC students numerous opportunities and benefits.
“By attending the conference, students will have the opportunity to enhance their leadership skills while connecting with professionals and undergraduate students from across the country,” she said. “The conference theme of leadership and social responsibility is particularly important to the collaborative nature of the conference this year as presenters span across a variety of fields and disciplines.”
After participating in the planning process, Hicks has a greater appreciation of what students are able to gain from the conference.
“It has been awesome to see and be a part of all the behind the scenes planning,” she said. “There is a lot that goes into this weekend and after planning for months, I am most excited to see the participants come together and engage in the sessions and to hear what the presenters have to offer.”
Perruci was impressed by the work of Drabeck, Hicks and other McDonough students who worked to organize the conference
“The students have been wonderful in putting this together,” he said. “I’m mainly sitting in the background and watching the event because for the students, this is the leadership development opportunity for them.”
The conference is open to all MC students, and Perruci hopes students will take advantage of the opportunities offered.
“This is a chance for them to network, a chance for them to learn new ideas, to have some of their own ideas challenged,” he said. “It’s also an opportunity for them, especially the presenters, to share the work that they’re doing because some of these presentations … these are projects that they have done in their institutions, so this conference gives them a national venue for them to share what they’re doing.”
Registration for the conference closes on March 25 at 5 p.m., and students can register at https://hocken.wufoo.com/forms/mcdonough-leadership-conference-registration/
