Title:
Taking the Next Step: Networking Conference Speakers
Craig T. Love PhD, Senior Study Director, Westat (Keynote)
Howard G. Adams PhD, Founder & President, H.G. Adams & Associates, Inc. View the Summer Symposium Photo Gallery:
What Happened | Who Was There Networking was the theme of this year’s Leadership Alliance National Symposium (LANS), held July 29-July 31, 2005 in Danvers, Massachusetts. The symposium, the second in a series on “Taking the Next Step,” focused on extending and enhancing the skills of undergraduate and graduate student participants in building, maintaining and utilizing networks with their future colleagues and administrators. Leadership Alliance Executive Director Valerie Wilson, PhD, in her opening remarks, urged the participants to “use this opportunity to hear from others about life at various stages of the career pathway, to learn about resources to support your career development, to gain technical knowledge about communication through oral, visual and written documents, and to network with academic leaders and institutional officials who can clarify and facilitate your career choices and decisions.” Howard Adams, founder and president of H.G. Adams & Associates Inc., and a national expert on the subject of networking, conducted a lively session for the undergraduates on Friday evening, providing tips and techniques for better networking. He fostered a comfortable and open environment for further networking and continued to assist students develop their skills in both formal and informal settings throughout the weekend. The keynote speaker, Craig T. Love, Senior Study Director at WESTAT, opened the conference on Friday evening with the presentation “Decisions, Decisions…Is Going Back Going Forward?” Dr. Love, an experimental and educational psychologist, spoke about his career in research and evaluation studies while remaining close to his Native American heritage. In a career spanning over 30 years, he has studied Native American populations, AIDS prevention, and treatment and prevention of drug and alcohol abuse among prisoners and other criminal justice settings. Dr. Love also discussed the findings of recent studies on barriers to research training for underrepresented minorities. John Fitzgerald Gates, associate dean for administration and finance, Harvard University, served as the symposium moderator, for the seventh year since 1998. For undergraduates, the conference was the culmination of the summer research experience for the 146 undergraduates participating in eight to ten-week Summer Research-Early Identification Programs (SR-EIP) and 159 other undergraduates from similar programs based at 17 of the 31 Leadership Alliance member institutions. For the undergraduates, a full day was dedicated to oral presentations, as 151 students presented preliminary results of their research to a national audience of peers, faculty and representatives from the public and private sectors. On the following day, 117 students participated in poster sessions. The sessions were moderated by graduate students with similar areas of expertise. The conference hosted 48 graduate students, of whom more than half have advanced to candidacy and are preparing to make a transition into further academic training or careers. This symposium marked the second year that a comprehensive approach to the issues facing underrepresented emerging PhDs was incorporated as a key component in the program. The graduate student cohort was recruited from two groups of scholars: past participants of the SR-EIP and those completing their degree at a Leadership Alliance member institution. The conference schedule included concurrent panel discussions and seminars for undergraduates and graduate students, with each track focused on taking the next step in their educational or career path. Graduate students attended seminars on “How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are,” “Life Beyond Graduate School” and “Seeking a Faculty or Postdoctoral Position.” Undergraduates attended seminars on “The Graduate School Application Process” and “The Graduate School Experience” and received training and advice on “Succeeding in Two Worlds as a Native American,” writing a personal statement or resume, and funding graduate education. Undergraduates were able to choose from three simultaneous sessions that addressed specific issues in the graduate application process for either the biosciences and MD/PhD, engineering and physical sciences, or humanities and social sciences. A highlight of the symposium was the panel discussion offered Saturday evening on “The Academic Career Pathway: A Continuum.” John Gates, the symposium moderator, led a group of diverse experts in an often moving and reflective session. The panel included Peter Velazquez, postdoctoral fellow at New York University; Mark Hernandez, Associate Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder; Pamela Scott-Johnson, Associate Professor, Morgan State University; Alfred Johnson, Assistant Director, National Institutes of Health Office of Intramural Research and Craig Love. At breakfast Sunday morning, topic tables on various areas of interest were hosted by graduate students, faculty, coordinators and administrators, and offered a more personal venue to address students’ questions. At the graduate school recruiting fair that morning, representatives from 24 academic and governmental institutions provided information and networking opportunities for students interested in programs offered by those institutions. The Leadership Alliance National Symposium is generously supported by NIH grant T36 GM063480 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Minority Opportunities for Research Enhancement (MORE) Division. Program At A Glance:
view schedule Graduate Program:
LANS now includes a full weekend of workshops and panels specifically for graduate students preparing to take the next step in their careers. Travel, lodging and meals are provided. | 
