Sept. 25, 2009

Morningside College freshmen to participate in Sept. 30 “Just Lead!” conference

All 325 freshmen at Morningside College will participate in the school’s first annual “Just Lead!” conference on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

According to Susie Lubbers, assistant professor of education and director of the Morningside Center for Ethics and Leadership (MCEL), the conference is designed to expose freshmen students to leadership concepts and to help them craft their own individual values statements.

“Morningside College’s mission statement says, in part, that we cultivate in our students a dedication to ethical leadership,” Lubbers said. “The Just Lead conference is starting that process for our freshman class.”

More than 30 Morningside faculty, staff members and coaches and an equal number of volunteers from the Sioux City area and beyond will work with small groups of the students during the half-day conference. 

“By the end of the conference, freshmen will have completed an online exercise to craft a written values statement,” Lubbers said. “And they will have met in small groups with business and community leaders to discuss the role of leadership and values in the workplace.”

The conference begins at 9:30 a.m. in Eppley Auditorium with a keynote address – “The Juggling of Leadership: When Values Collide” – from Dr. Craig Wansink, chairman of the religious studies department and associate dean of Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Va., and a 1984 Morningside graduate. Wansink also serves as vice chair of the Morningside College Board of Directors.

After the keynote address, the freshmen will disperse to classrooms and meeting rooms around the campus to work in small groups on developing their individual values statements. Lubbers said Morningside faculty, staff and coaches will facilitate the values clarification sessions.

Students will close out the morning’s activities by attending one of 33 concurrent sessions hosted on campus by a wide range of business and community representatives. According to Lubbers, the students will hear how leadership skills, ethics and personal values are important in a wide variety of professions and occupations, including finance, media, education, athletics, health care, aviation, law and the military.