pubTalk

A fine example of student leadership has been on display this spring at the Humphrey School. Several students -- Mary Small, Heather Schommer, Vincent Vu, Jon Brown, and Aaron Meyers - were the engines of the school's diversity strategic planning effort that began in fall semester and is nearing completion, just in time for some of these dedicated leaders to graduate.

Mary Small, as co-chair of the One Humphrey One Community working group, masterfully coordinated the effort and kept our "eyes on the prize." All the others took on tasks large and small from gathering supplies to facilitating the planning sessions.

Also contributing to the working group's leadership were staff members Karen McCauley and Emily Saunoi-Sandgren. Faculty member Ryan Allen was the other co-chair. Student Kylie Patterson also recently joined the group, and Prof. John Bryson and I served as advisers.

At the heart of the planning effort were participatory sessions devoted to action-oriented strategy mapping and SWOT analysis. (SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). More than 100 Humphrey alumni, students, staff, and faculty participated in these sessions.

The result so far is a draft strategic plan that is intended to guide the Humphrey School in the next five years to make even stronger our commitment to preparing "innovative leaders to advance the common good in a diverse world." Not a bad legacy for a group of determined young leaders!