The Alcorn State University Extension Program (ASUEP) 4th annual Community Resource Development (CRD) Conference will feature the speakers that represent all pillars of community leadership from a retired lieutenant general, to a university president, regional director of a national public service organization, and a foundation program director.
Slated for October 23-25, 2013, at the Hilton Hotel, 1001 E. County Line Rd, Jackson, Mississippi, this year’s conference is specifically designed to educate those interested in community development about the important challenges and opportunities facing such efforts, said Katrina McLin, conference chair and area community resources development (CRD) educator at Alcorn.
“Enhancing Community Leadership” is this year’s theme, and according to McLin, a focal point of the conference will be the cultivation of community leaders by building a strong model for success.
The opening keynote speaker is retired Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore’, 33rd Commanding Gen. of the United States, First Army, Fort Gilliem, Georgia. Alcorn State University President, Dr. M. Christopher Brown II and Southern Regional Director of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Cheryl W. Turner, will serve as luncheon keynote speakers.
Gladys Krigger Washington, program director of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation will facilitate an early bird session “Embracing Community Leadership”.
The opening keynote speaker, author and CNN contributor Lt. Gen. Honore’, was touted by the former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin as “one John Wayne dude.” In the desperate and chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina he displayed exemplary character and leadership taking charge to restore order and hope to the city and its citizens. He is chair of the Louisiana Bicentennial Commission and a board member of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. Honore’ is the author of a book “Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family from Disasters”, and his new book, “Leadership in the New Normal”, that explains how to be an effective leader in the 21st Century.
Dr. M. Christopher Brown II is the 18th President of Alcorn State University, the nation’s first historically black land-grant institution – in Lorman, Mississippi. President Brown is the youngest HBCU president in the nation. As an authority on HBCUs and land-grant universities, Dr. Brown is leading the charge to increase funding for agricultural research and to expand global programs and activities at Alcorn. He is determined to prepare Alcorn students to succeed in the global marketplace while fostering in each leadership qualities that will prove valuable to both themselves and the communities in which they live. Since being named Alcorn’s President in November 2010, Dr. Brown has reinvigorated one of most important public college campuses in America. Under his leadership, Alcorn has experienced record enrollment growing to over 4000 students for the first time in its 140 plus year history. In 2012 Alcorn State University received the highly coveted HBCU of the Year Award, and in 2013 Dr. Brown was named Male HBCU President of the Year – both from the National Center for HBCU Media Advocacy.
Cheryl W. Turner is the southern regional director of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is the first Mississippian elected to lead the Sorority’s Southern Region since the inception of Regional Conferences in 1926. She is a member of the Sorority’s National Executive Board, and a recent retiree of the State of Mississippi, having previously served as director of special programs for the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Insurance. In that role she was a key member of the management team that administered the State’s Health and Life Insurance Programs, Self-Insured Workers’ Compensation, and State Employees’ Wellness and Children’s Health Insurance Programs.
Gladys Washington serves as program director of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, a private family foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Foundation helps people and places across the Southeastern United States to move up and out of poverty, and achieve greater social and economic justice. It supports organizations and networks working in low-wealth communities that are poised to expand their scale of impact while working across race, ethnic, economic, and political differences. She works with the Foundation’s applicants and grantees in the Gulf Coast and Delta Regions of the South.
“The attendees can look forward to networking, sharing ideas and information, gaining knowledge about business development, cooperative development, funding opportunities, faith-based opportunities, grant writing and much more,” McLin said. “In addition to dynamic keynote speakers, the Conference features various concurrent sessions and festivities.”
The Conference is open to organizers, community leaders, administrators, educators and all persons interested in making communities better. Registration begins at 8 a.m.
For more details on the conference, contact Katrina McLin at (601) 372-1424 or kmclin@alcorn.edu . To register, visit,
www.asuextension.com/crd-conference.html .
-ALCORN-
Alcorn State University is a premier comprehensive land-grant university that develops diverse students into globally competitive leaders, and applies scientific research through collaborative partnerships that benefit the surrounding communities, state, nation, and world.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Tuesday, October 8th 2013 at 4:39PM
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