The Emerging Leaders Workshop (ELW), hosted by the Virginia Tech Graduate School, offers a unique opportunity for honor students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to meet, learn and be inspired by college graduates who have excelled in their academic fields and are pursuing an advanced degree. Lectures, workshops and activities are designed to develop sustainable leadership through academic success, community service and ethical behavior. The ELW participants, accompanied by their nominating faculty member(s), consist of a group of rising sophomores and juniors, mostly majoring in mathematics and science, which have academic grade point averages of 3.0 or greater. Since its creation in 1997, ELW has hosted more than 400 talented honor students from over 30 minority institutions. In 2008, we will be celebrating our tenth anniversary!

The goal of Emerging Leaders is to develop a core of leaders who will demonstrate what they have learned and share these attributes with others in their communities. By stressing the importance of excelling in academics and applying this educational learning in pursuit of a career, students involved in ELW will have a greater chance to serve in leadership positions and be catalysts for positive change. Participants have an opportunity to prepare for graduate school and careers through interaction with peers, senior scholars, faculty, industry professionals, government leaders and guest speakers.

ELW is made possible by corporate sponsorships from companies such as Boeing, Carilion, DuPont, FedEx, Lockheed Martin and the United States Department of State. Business leaders from these companies conduct informative workshops, exercises and mock interviews to expose participants to the corporate culture and how they can better prepare themselves for the work environment.

• Pursing scholarships, internships and fellowships
• Financial Planning
• Best practices in honors programs
• Resumé writing
• Etiquette
• Dressing for success
• The global future
• Transitioning from undergraduate to graduate school
• Interpersonal communication
• Developing a personal action plan
• Mock interviews

The $500 school registration fee covers lodging for one faculty member and two students for arrival on July 31, 2008, and departure on
August 3, 2008. (The fee for additional faculty/students is $250 per person.) Travel to/from the conference is not covered in the registration fee. Online Faculty, Student, and paper registrations are now available. (Please note that the Emerging Leaders Workshop and Conference is a working business experience for students, faculty, and corporate sponsors. Therefore, we must request that if you are accompanied by a spouse and/or children, please refrain from including them in ELW functions unless you have received prior approval from ELW Executive Committee Co-Chair Marilyn Kershaw. We appreciate your understanding.)

For more information about the Emerging Leaders Workshop, please contact Marilyn Kershaw, Director of Graduate Student Recruiting at Virginia Tech by phone (540/231-2494) or by e-mail.