| Opening Keynote — Wednesday, May 7 • 8:30-10:00 a.m. |
Angus S. King Jr.
Former Governor of Maine
Keynote Sponsored by: Mercer
In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and 28 men embarked upon the last great polar exploration — the crossing of the Antarctic continent. Before reaching land, however, the expedition's ship was caught fast and finally crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea. At that point, Shackleton's mission drastically changed — from exploration to survival.
The story of the next 20 months, as Shackleton and his men fought everything nature could throw at them in the most inhospitable climate on earth, is one of the most amazing tales of heroism and leadership in human history. What can you as a higher ed HR professional learn from Shackleton's lessons of survival? Find out at this opening keynote presentation.
Angus S. King Jr. is the former Governor of Maine, serving from 1995-2003. He was elected as an independent in 1994 in his first run for public office and re-elected in 1998 by one of the largest margins in Maine history. His accomplishments while in office included a major rebuild of the state's mental health and corrections systems; improvements in the state's online services capability; a substantial increase in the state's commitment to research and development; the largest increase of lands in conservation in Maine's history; and the nationally recognized program to provide a laptop computer to every seventh and eighth grade student in the state.
King currently has several projects in the works. He serves as distinguished lecturer at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and works as an attorney with Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson of Portland. He also is an associate with Leaders LLC (a mergers and acquisitions advising firm); a commentator on NOW with David Brancaccio (PBS-TV); and principal in Independence Wind LLC (an energy development company). In the fall of 2004, he served as visiting fellow at the Institute of Politics in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
| Thursday Keynote — Thursday, May 8 • Noon-1:30 p.m. |
Amy C. Edmondson
Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard University
Keynote Sponsored by: Fidelity Investments
Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management and chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. She is also chair of the Committee of Higher Degrees in Business Studies at Harvard University. The Novartis Chair was established to enable the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful business enterprises for the betterment of society.
Edmondson joined the Harvard faculty as an assistant professor in 1996. Her research examines leadership influences on learning, collaboration and innovation in teams and organizations. Her field-based approach includes research in contexts ranging from health care delivery and manufacturing to space exploration. Edmondson has published over 50 articles in academic journals, management periodicals and books. In 2003, the Academy of Management's Organizational Behavior Division selected Edmondson for the Cummings Award for outstanding achievement in early mid-career, and in 2000 selected her article, "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams," for its annual award for the best published paper in the field. Her recent article, "Why Hospitals Don't Learn From Failures: Organizational and Psychological Dynamics That Inhibit System Change" (with Anita Tucker), received the 2004 Accenture Award for a significant contribution to management practice.
Edmondson received her Ph.D. in organizational behavior, her master's in psychology, and her bachelor's in engineering and design, all from Harvard University.
| Closing Keynote — Friday, May 9 • 8:30-11:30 a.m. |
SST Communications Inc.
Renowned scholar Joseph Campbell compared the world's folktales, myths and religious parables and reached the conclusion that the "hero's journey" is universal across all cultures, ethnicities and races. He discovered that all heroic stories follow a specific step-by-step process — if the hero does not follow this paradigm, he or she ends up as a pillar of stone, or as bones on the floor of some dragon's cave. The application of his body of work to leadership is quite simple: When you have the responsibility of sending someone out to achieve a difficult task or goal, you are, in a very real sense, sending out a hero on a quest. Understanding the hero's journey provides you with real tools to increase their rate of success. Join us for an exciting, thought-provoking multimedia presentation that will provide you with the skills you need to lead and support your heroes for success.
Founded in 1987 in Chicago, Illinois, SST Communications Inc. is the country's premier theatre-based learning organization. SST has well over 5,000 on-site performances to its credit and has accrued a diverse and impressive clientele. Participants consistently rate their learning experience with SST the "best they have ever had." When SST performed at another CUPA-HR event recently, an attendee aptly described the session as "spellbinding."
CUPA-HR asked SST to create a program addressing HR issues on the nation's campuses. Since that time they have developed and delivered innovative training and development programs for hundreds of our colleges and universities. SST currently offers theatre-based presentations and workshops targeting over 30 topics ranging from Diversity to Sexual Harassment; Food Service to Customer Service; Personal Transition Management to Violence Prevention.
The key to SST's success is founder Jeff Mangrum's ability to assess the needs of the client, perform the research, then custom craft a presentation that opens the heart and mind, fuels the imagination and delivers an indelible learning experience. SST's actors are a group of seasoned, talented professionals that are passionate about delivering a memorable performance without exception.
