McDonough Leadership Conference continues to grow
Following the theme, “Leadership Through Time,” historic leadership and leadership across generations will be just some of the topics discussed at this year’s McDonough Leadership Conference, being held from Friday, March 31, through Saturday, April 1.
While some will actually present their research posters or facilitate discussion sessions, all Marietta College students are welcome to attend the conference.
Overall, Conference Chair Kaitlin Sarago ’18 (Mars, Pa.) expects 250 students, professors and professionals to attend this year’s conference.
Though it should be a great and enlightening experience for all those who participate, Sarago believes students especially will have a lot to take away from the presentations focusing on “Leadership Through Time.”
“I think this theme is incredibly beneficial for attendees, especially students, because they will be entering a workforce that spans across multiple generations,” she said. “As millennials, we should be prepared to work and adapt to people much older or younger than us that have vastly different styles of leadership. It should also be interesting to learn about leadership from a historical aspect. It is important to reflect on the leadership of the past, because it will improve the leadership of the present.”
While there will be a wide variety of research subject matter discussed, the ways in which they will be presented will also vary. Students and faculty from across the country and the Marietta College community will present through leader dialogue sessions, featured graduate presentations, master classes and undergraduate student presentations.
As the conference continues to grow each year, the selection of presentation proposals to try and fit into the two days of the conference is becoming more difficult.
“This year, we received a record number of presentation proposals, which made the conference program planning process very challenging,” said Gama Perruci, dean of the McDonough Center for Leadership and Business. “I think we have a powerful conference program, and the participants are in for a great treat. Every year, the conference grows and adds new participating institutions. We are expecting to have 25 institutions this year from across the country.”
Scheduled events for this year’s conference include a featured graduate presenter from Harvard University and speakers from organizations like the National Democratic Institute, Amazon and Chevron. In addition to a wide variety of schools and students, an array of business and global non-profit leaders will be in attendance and presenting.
“We have such a diverse group of speakers from a variety of backgrounds, which will allow attendees of the conference to learn from people with lots of experience,” Sarago said.
Besides listening to keynote speakers, the weekend will also offer attendees the chance to participate in workshops for leadership development.
“This conference combines both leadership development opportunities and the sharing of undergraduate research in the area of Leadership Studies,” Perruci said. “We are quickly becoming the national conference for undergraduate research in Leadership Studies.”
Through the generosity of the conference’s corporate sponsors, attendance of all the events is free.
Lead sponsors are The Scott Theodore Leadership Conference Endowment, McDonough Corporation, Peoples Bank and World Pac Paper, LLC. Other sponsors include, Alliance Industries, the J. Luce Foundation, and Dr. George McAfee.
Those wishing to attend any sessions of the conference must register beforehand. Spaces for some sessions are limited to a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in attending sessions are encouraged to view the preliminary conference program, which provides more in-depth descriptions of events and speakers, and register for sessions online (http://mcdonough.marietta.edu).