UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The second annual Penn State World Campus Student Leadership Conference will be held this month, bringing online learners together to build their leadership skills.
The 2019 conference will be held Sunday, Oct. 27, through Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the HUB-Robeson Center at Penn State’s University Park campus.
Registration is open, and all Penn State World Campus students are eligible to attend.
The theme of the conference is “Leading for ImpACT,” and the agenda has been structured around ways online learners can use the leadership skills from their educational experience in their communities and workplaces.
“Our students are already leaders in these spaces,” said Ashley Adams, director of Penn State World Campus Student Affairs, which is sponsoring the event. “This conference is an opportunity for them to think about how their leadership in their work and communities might be influenced by their student experience.”
The conference will consist of breakout sessions on topics of student leadership, leadership in the workplace, and leadership in the community. There will be keynote addresses from three speakers, networking opportunities and a poster session in which students can present their own leadership experiences.
The keynote speakers are the following:
- Christopher Beem, managing director of Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy, will talk about civic leadership.
- Ola Ojewumi, writer, community organizer and nonprofit founder, will speak about leadership as an action, not a position.
- Tim Balliett, Penn State’s ethics officer, will speak about representing Penn State’s values as leaders within individual communities.
The 2019 conference follows the first event in 2018, which brought more than 50 Penn State World Campus students from across the country. This year’s event expands on last year’s, with one more day, more speakers and new opportunities for World Campus students to engage with one another.
“We were really intentional this year about taking ideas and putting them into action for students to implement their leadership skills in their communities and workplaces,” Adams said.
One of last year’s attendees, Kristin Johnson, said the conference helped her focus on the qualities of leadership she wanted to project and those she wanted to develop. Johnson, of Alexandria, Virginia, appreciated the chance to visit Penn State’s campus and meet professors and other students.
“I felt that it was valuable for me, as someone who wants to be involved in advocacy for healthcare and military families, to learn some leadership skills that could help me become better at what I want to do,” said Johnson, who graduated in May with a master’s degree in public administration. “I gained more confidence in myself and moving forward in my career.”
Students can visit the conference website to register and find more information.