Leadership Exploration and Diversity Symposium
Save the Date: Monmouth LEADS 2024 – Saturday, February 24, 2024.
Monmouth LEADS (Leadership Exploration and Diversity Symposium) is an on-campus leadership conference experience. The purpose of Monmouth LEADS is to enable students to explore their personal leadership style and develop skills they can apply at Monmouth and beyond while expanding their awareness of diversity and its role in the student experience.
Symposium Schedule
10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Symposium Check In
11 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. – Welcome Remarks
11:30 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. – Leadership Workshops Block 1
12:15 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. – Leadership Workshops Block 2
1 p.m. – Lunch Opens
1:15 p.m. – Keynote Speaker Curtis Hill
Keynote Session
Curtis Hill on Managing the Chaos of Leadership: Taking the Lead and Keeping It.
Leadership is a process by which the leader is transformed so that they can help transform the lives of others. In order to be an effective leader, one must develop the attitude of a leader. Whether you have a formal title of a leader or have not moved into that position yet, anyone can benefit from this presentation and become the best leader possible. Great leaders understand how to inspire everyone around them – their friends, family and peers, to strive for excellence regardless to their circumstances – because they are inspired themselves. Curtis’ presentation is powerful, funny and compelling. And it will create the desire in your students to make a difference in the lives of the people around them.
Learning Outcomes
· Discover five surprising secrets to becoming a great leader
· Find out how to inspire and motivate those around you
· Recognize how you can impact your organization’s culture and the world around you
Leadership Workshops
Understanding a Leadership Skill Set
Jim Pillar, Ed.D
Bey Hall 201 – Only available during Presentation Block 1
This session will examine the character traits of successful leaders. Participants will identify and prioritize the attributes needed to successfully lead an organization. Additionally, each individual will be able to define their own skill set..
Developing Interpersonal Skills For Teamwork
Kara Teehan, Ph.D.
Bey Hall 231 – Only available during Presentation Block 1
In the age of digital and virtual interaction, everyone can benefit from improving their interpersonal skills. This session will explore skillsets needed to be a contributing and effective member of a team. It is great to be a leader, but it is even more important to learn how to engage with others to meet a goal collaboratively. This session will allow participants to think about scenarios where members are working as a team, and figure out how to improve their interactions. The session will also review how to read signals people are sending and interpret those signals in order to respond in an appropriate and productive way. The session will focus on interacting with others, being an effective member of a team, and interpreting verbal and nonverbal signals that may be subtle or not.
Diversity in Leading & Communication
Rajnarind Kaur
Bey Hall 222
This session will focus on cross-cultural communication. Various experiences, backgrounds, and social norms contribute to the diversity present in communication styles, methods, and preferences. Students will have an opportunity to demonstrate their preferred communication style whilst applying the underlying individual attitudes and thought processes. Rajnarind Kaur is a Wall Street executive focused on empowering individuals to confidently develop their leadership, analytical, and public-speaking skills.
Am I The Problem?
Maria G. Vasquez & David Schenk
Bey Hall 228
People don’t always react well to stress. As team leaders, we get flustered and stressed out, when it comes to planning events or executing large projects. Sometimes, when the morality of a team is off or when projects aren’t running smoothly, it’s important to take a step back, and see how we might be contributing to the issue. Inventory of self is very necessary as a leader and in other aspects of your life. Let’s take a moment to look in and “check ourselves.”
Don’t Fall Off the Cliff: Future-Proofing Your Membership
Joe Palazzolo, Ed.D.
Bey Hall 229
All estimates and projections show that beginning in 2025, college enrollments will begin to fall off a cliff. Less students will be enrolled in college and less opportunities will exist for your membership to grow. This session will help you understand upcoming enrollment trends and provide effective strategies to safeguard your organization’s membership today, and in the future.
Personal Branding: Standing Out Today to Lead Tomorrow
Harry Termyna
Pozycki Hall 204
How do you introduce yourself in a professional setting? What is your personal brand? Through interactive activities and discussion, this workshop will help students build confidence in identifying strengths and marketing their leadership skills.
“Tell Me About Yourself” A Guide to Telling Your Story of Learning and Leading at Monmouth and Beyond
Claude Taylor
Pozycki Hall 205
This session invites participants to explore narrative storytelling as a means to effectively communicate with others about what they have learned as a college student and what they have learned as a student leader. Participants will be guided though approaches to telling their story in a variety of contexts and will be encouraged to develop a “leadership story profile” that will help participants communicate confidently with answers to question like “so, tell me about yourself?” Participants in this session will be asked to practice composing and presenting a personal introduction.
How I Built My Resume and Career as an Educator and How You Can Too
Minna Nizam
Bey Hall 223
This talk is about leadership in museum studies, and about how to build one’s resume, how to land THE JOB of your dreams, and how to stay afloat in the field of humanities and museum studies.
Showcasing Your Highest Self Through Leadership Practices
Sarah Van Clef
Pozycki Hall 206 – Only available during Presentation Block 1
A talk and workshop on how to showcase your morals, beliefs, and values as a leader to any group from clubs to career!
Small Steps to Create DEI Events
Mufrad (Moofy) Ahmed
Pozycki Hall 206 – Only available during Presentation Block 2
This session focuses on informing student organizations on what kind of mentality they should have when they plan for events so that they could be more inclusive and equitable. While a lot of times organizations want to do amazing events, they might forget small things that could go a long way, such as finding a space that might be wheelchair accessible or keeping their audience in mind.
The goal is for organizations to think about their audience when planning their event and creating opportunities for a broader audience to participate.
Why Leading Matters
Vaughn Clay, Ed.D.
Bey Hall 230
Did you know there is a direct correlation between academic achievement, professional success, and students who become leaders during their time in college? This interactive session will ask participants to reflectively explore the connections between the leadership skills they are currently developing, the skills they still hope to achieve and the pathways in doing so. Participants will also learn about fundamental leadership concepts that can be applied to their day-to-day experiences.