February 20, 2008

Leadership and Appreciation of OWU’s Heritage Resonate Within Programming

OWU’s Student Involvement Office will host two upcoming events: The Emerging Leaders Conference (ELC) beginning Saturday, February 23 at 12:45 p.m. in the Benes Room and the inaugural Heritage Day on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Gray Chapel.

The ELC is a new initiative to provide primarily freshmen, but also sophomores, with an insight to information and encouragement that they need to be successful. Nancy B. Rutkowski, assistant director of student involvement for leadership, is planning the event.

Rutkowski says she is working with her STAP student, Amanda Matthews ’08.

“We are planning several programs in conjunction with one another,” Rutkowski says. “We are encouraging faculty, staff, and organizations to nominate emerging leaders, and we have invitations and confirmations going out to students. In addition, we are selecting presenters for our workshops, and we also are creating gift bags for each participant.”

This event is only open to 30-40 students who have been nominated to attend the conference. Some of the workshops include goal setting, OWU 101, and time management. Slated as key speaker for the ELC is L. Marshall Washington ’91, vice president of student affairs at Kellogg College. Each participant will receive a gift bag with a conference T-shirt, a leadership book, a pen, and other miscellaneous items.

Rutkowski shares that this is a high quality but low budget event.

“Our speakers are all coming for the price of lunch,” she says. “The only other cost is for the materials in the gift bags.”

Rutkowski’s office conducted an “advanced” student leader workshop last fall. She then thought it would be valuable to develop programming that might motivate new upcoming leaders.

“We are hopeful that we will have 25-40 informed and excited student-leaders as a result of our ELC initiative,” Rutkowski says. We need them to be ready to “take the helm” as our wonderful senior leaders graduate in May.”

Inaugural Heritage Day will honor the fact that OWU has had a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) for 100 years. It will also recognize PBK as the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Only one in 100 college seniors are invited into membership in this chapter.

Rutkowski is working with the Heritage Day committee and the OWU chapter of PBK. The University Communications office has been helpful in getting ready for this event as well. Invitations have been sent to local high school national honor societies and to members of our own OWU academic honor societies.

Joseph Musser, president of the local Phi Beta Kappa chapter and OWU English professor, is planning the actual ceremony, which is at 7:30 p.m. on March 5 in Gray Chapel. A special dinner is being held before the event, to honor the speaker John Churchill, secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa society. Afterward, Churchill will provide the keynote address, which will include an induction of honorary members.

“The first effort of the Inaugural Heritage Day focuses on the core of our institution: the liberal arts,” Rutkowski says. “It’s only fitting that the program is called “A Century of Phi Beta Kappa: Celebrating the Liberal Arts at Ohio Wesleyan.”

As Rutkowski explains, the intent of Heritage Day events is to annually celebrate milestones in OWU’s history.

“Our community needs to understand and appreciate our cultural past and our heritage,” she says. For more information about these upcoming events and other future programs, contact Rutkowski by phone at (740) 368-3171 or at nbrutkow@owu.edu.

– Ryan Armstrong ’09