Contact: Brittney Dabney, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
The upcoming motivational “Life Series” speakers program, part of the Leadership and Excellence by ϲͼ Students — or LET US — Academy, will help students envision professional success through the eyes of notable Tuskegee alumni. The speakers series is open to students of all majors and classifications.
The program launches on Wednesday, Oct. 31, with a presentation by John Long, iHeartϲͼ’s senior vice president of programming and a 1996 Tuskegee graduate. His presentation, “Communicating Effectively with Others,” will begin at 7 p.m. in the Henderson Hall Auditorium.
Based in the College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences, the LET US Academy assists first-semester STEM students with developing the “soft skills” required of today’s job market. Walter P. Cooper Sr., who coordinates the LET US Academy program, noted that it helps students develop the communications and interpersonal skills they must combine with the technical classroom knowledge required of their chosen career fields.
Though the program is in its infancy, Cooper highlighted that the academy has already helped bridge the soft-skills gap for students by connecting them with successful alumni, who in turn share their life and career experiences with students.
“Introducing these skills at an early stage affords our students the opportunity of securing internships so that they can continue to work on these skills. This will make their transition easier when they graduate and go into the real-world,” Cooper emphasized.
Between Oct. 31 through Dec. 5, students will learn the ins-and-outs of professional life from five Tuskegee alumni who have made their marks in a number of business sectors and walks of life. Each will share their perspectives on skills sets that are important to students’ future careers –– goal setting to goal achievement, communicating effectively with others, developing habits for excellence, building on strengths and passion, managing priorities and stress and achieving excellence with integrity.
“Bringing alumni back to campus to share their experiences helps students envision what they are capable of becoming,” Cooper said. “The program also helps the university deepen its relationship with alumni and get them involved in some way with our student development efforts.”
This year’s Life Series includes the following, each of whom will speak on their respective days at 7 p.m. in the Henderson Hall Auditorium:
Cooper says the motivational speakers’ series was made possible through the partnership of guest speaker Quionna Allen and senior sales and marketing major Melody Wilson, who coordinated the efforts and activities of the program.
Although the Life Series speakers program is open to all students, the LET US Academy is only open to freshman students and provides them with an experiential learning experience that comes in the form of shadowing professionals in a variety of industries. The program assists students with receiving more experience in their chosen career fields through a holistic approach to student development and service partnerships with local schools throughout Macon County.
To learn more about the Let Us Academy, visit /programs-courses/colleges-schools/caens/daes/undergraduate-research-and-mentoring/let-us-for-stem.
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