Undergraduate students and other professionals will all join together in Auburn to learn about different forms of leadership during the 2018 Women’s Leadership Conference held in early March to promote and teach women leaders on and off Auburn’s campus.
This year the conference will feature two different tracks for attendees. One track will focus on content and information that may be relevant to faculty, staff and professionals, while the other will be more focused towards students.
The opening session for both students and nonstudents will consist of two TED-style talks, followed by break-out sessions.
One of the first student breakout sessions will be
“A big focus will be on soft skill building in terms of interacting with other individuals for the first time, marketing and communicating what I can offer, what I need from you," said Dr. Annette Kluck, assistant provost for Women’s Initiatives. "Creating those relationships that can be beneficial to women assuming leadership positions."
The second option for a breakout session will be “Positive Disruption and Social Entrepreneurship - Activating Passion for Social Justice.”
“It is really focused on helping people think about ‘how do I take my passion for seeing change and helping to deal with inequity and do that in a way that sort of disrupts systems but is positive,’” Kluck said.
The session following is aimed for students and is called Stepping Outside the Box and Embracing Creativity.
“It will be a session helping people think about how we’re in a world where interdisciplinary opportunities are growing," Kluck said. "We’re no longer thinking about being isolated in terms of what we might do in our career.
The keynote speech will be given by Lauren Washington, founder of the KeepUp app and named a woman to watch.
At the luncheon, along with the keynote speaker, the annual Women of Distinction awards will be presented.
Debra Armstrong-Wright has served on the advisory board to the Women’s Center and on the committee which selects the Women of Distinction award winners.
“I read these things and I think, ‘my goodness we have some incredible students here,’" Armstrong-Wright said. "I think if young women see, 'Hey there’s someone in my major or in my college who has done all these incredible things, I could do that too,'”
The Conference will be held on March 8 at the Hotel at Auburn University and the Dixon Conference Center. Pre-Registration is open now until March 1 and the cost of attendance is $35 for students and $50 for nonstudents.
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