Dear mentors, advisory board members, alumni, and all supporters of the Leadership Academy,
Happy New Year! We would like to extend a warm and heart-felt thank you to all who have supported us this past year. Thanks to your efforts, we successfully raised $19,000 on Giving Tuesday! Your gifts will have a tremendous impact on our students as we are now able to provide additional opportunities to our students through increased scholarships, learning materials, and leadership experiences. Thank you for supporting our students and thank you for supporting the Leadership Academy!Sincerely,
Jonathan Velez and Haley Traini
With special thanks to our corporate partners:
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The Leadership Academy seminar theme for Winter term is "change" and will focus on topics such as the power of vulnerability, understanding and creating change, motivation, and networking. Dr. Traini started the first class of the term using a "padlet" to ask students to reflect on the class culture and offer ways we could continue to improve upon that ethos.
This term students will have the opportunity to hear from industry guest speakers such as Mrs. Karla Chambers from Stahlbush Farms who will discuss her own experience as a leader in innovative agriculture in Oregon. Through in-class activities, as well as via our textbook Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, students will be able to apply and synthesize their learning to continue to improve upon and refine their personal development plans and begin to consider their service learning project.
We will be recruiting for our 2020-2021 cohort from now until the deadline in April. Leadership skills are critical for our graduates, so we are eager to continue to grow the Academy and reach as many students in the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry as possible. Our goal is to enroll at least 60 students this Fall with a good representation from all of the majors across the two colleges, as well as transfer students. Recruitment efforts will heavily rely on collaborations with faculty, advisors, and mentors from both colleges and will include social media posts; targeted messaging to sophomore through senior level, and transfer students; and a student-led information night as part of a "recruit week" so current students can share excitement about the Academy with their peers.
We also welcomed our new graduate teaching assistant Amy Gonzalez, a doctoral student from Puerto Rico to the class. We are excited for her contributions!
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Supporter Spotlight: Betsy Hartley
Who better to start off the new year showcasing than someone who has been a College and Academy supporter for over a decade? When I began dropping the name Betsy Hartley to colleagues both on and off campus, there was a resounding "I know her!" and "She's one of my closest friends!"
Betsy was thrilled when I asked her if she would be willing to talk with me and share her journey. "I was there at the very start. It actually began to morph into existence as we had conversations with donors and employers who expressed that while our graduates were fantastic – some of them were missing the soft skills, the things that define them as stand-out leaders. We knew there was a need for some ‘non-classroom’ growth opportunities for willing students." When asked about her involvement in the Academy Betsy adds, "I loved what this program was designed to do from the start and have been blown away by how quickly it has become SO MUCH MORE than we imagined."
As a child, Betsy recalls her first foray into leadership through her time in 4-H showing cattle. She says, "I remember when we were trying to figure out how to raise money for all of us to go to summer camp and everyone was just kind of shrugging and waiting for someone else to come up with an idea. So I threw out ideas and they all agreed it was something to try, and we were suddenly and slightly-chaotically off and running!" She adds, "I loved having responsibility for the health and well-being of my project animals. It was a family adventure – and yet ‘family’ grew to mean those I showed with and the parents of other 4-H’ers as well. I loved growing up with my steers and cows." A sentiment we hear over and over again the College and within the 4-H community.
Her strong agricultural upbringing and 4-H involvement set her on the path to study Agricultural Education at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She admits that although she wanted to be an educator, she never wanted to be in the classroom. She went to work at the National 4-H Council assisting with educational programming, and then spent the next 10 years in event-based fundraising for non-profits. When OSU needed someone who understood donors, communities and alumni/volunteer development in their Marketing and External Relations department, it was a natural fit. During her 14-year career in the College of Agricultural Sciences at OSU she made profound strides, serving as a mentor for the Leadership Academy and assisting in its development and growth.
As her professional career developed she says there were many great lessons to be learned. "The late Dr. Roy Arnold’s worlds still ring in my ears every time calamity hits - ‘NEVER waste a crisis.’ No matter how painful or hard – it’s worth learning and there’s always room to grow and emerge stronger. I’ve had to learn how to manage up with a boss...there were so many painful moments ensconced in that." She goes on to describe the powerful struggle between one's passion for an organization's mission and a misalignment with the leadership, proving that although painful at the time, moving on can be simultaneously necessary and productive in order to achieve one's personal goals.
Her path certainly has not always been paved smooth, however. "My biggest obstacle? Type 2 Diabetes and being morbidly obese. It got in the way of all aspects of life. I was literally walking around with one foot in the grave. I spent three years working to change my entire life. What I ate, how I moved, doctors I worked with, how I talked to myself when trying to do really hard things. Battling and reversing that disease and losing 200 pounds was a game-changer. It changed everything – and my perception of how to tackle problems. I’m now a health coach working with people who are in the same deep, lonely hole I was in. It was going to take my life – I’ve been able to re-make my life into something I never could have dreamed of."
Now an author, she says writing her book All Bets Are Off is something she never thought she would do. She explains, "I kept getting asked a whole lot of the same questions about how I got started on my journey to reverse type 2 diabetes. And it was usually followed with 'you should write this all down in a book'. So I did. I wanted to talk about the crap that no one really wants to talk about when you weigh 400 pounds and think you are the only one dealing with any of the embarrassing and hard issues that come with size, poor health, no activity, and doctors who don't really know how to help you get started. I also wanted to be able to help the people who were too shy or embarrassed or depressed to reach out and simply ask me their hard questions."
I was curious to know about the people who helped shape her into the woman she is today, so when I asked Betsy about her biggest role model, I expected her to draw from her myriad professional experiences and personal challenges. Instead, she simply replied "My mom. She passed in 2010 and I swear I'm still broken over her loss." Betsy's mom suffered from a degenerative disease from her early 30’s and although wheel-chair bound and in chronic pain, Betsy says she never complained. "She took each day as it came and looked for the very best in people/situations without fail. There are other folks who had significant impact on where I am professionally, but they pale in comparison to what my mom taught me about being a kind, compassionate human."
Supporting the Leadership Academy's mission and helping students find their own way is a natural fit for Betsy's passion, commitment and tenacity. In her words, "It's important to support the program, because our future needs the support and encouragement. This program makes a difference for students who are willing to invest the time and do the work, and I can see no better investment in our future than the people who are going to be there leading us."
We hope you continue to be right there with us too, Betsy! -->
Elizabeth Hagerman graduated from OSU in 2016 with a degree in Food Science and Technology. She currently works for a Contract Manufacturing/ Private Label Candy Company, working with and producing products for several customers from big consumer packaged goods companies to medium sized groups. Specifically, her role is Food Technologist within the Research and Development Department. Liz's creativity and leadership has led to now overseeing a cross-functional committee on one of their biggest processing lines. She says, "I have the Leadership Academy to thank for this because without learning how to utilize others' strengths and build up their weaknesses I would not know where to have started managing this committee. I get to work closely with our customers to continuously improve the product given new trends of Cleaner Food Labels as well as Organic and Natural components. I also get to work on New Product Developments which is extremely exciting to me; I get to be a mad scientist and work with new flavor profiles, new processing techniques, and sometimes see my products launch into commercialization. I get to see the product I just had my hand in making on store shelves, which is just mind blowing!"
When I asked her to reflect on how the Leadership Academy prepared her for her current role she said, "The Leadership Academy was such a confidence boost. Being in a cohort of different agricultural majors gives you the advantage to see many perspectives of the same concept at hand. It also allowed me to see myself as a leader, especially going into the industry as the “young one.” Seeing myself as a leader allowed me to be brave enough to not only publish a paper but also present on it at a conference. I joined the Academy because of its uniqueness at OSU. Being a part of the cohort during my senior year at OSU helped me organize my time between different activities and also prepare for finding a job after graduation. I am seen as a leader despite my age and being the "millennial" person in the department."
Recalling the importance of her mentor she says, "I have been able to work closely with a mentor now in the industry; to be able to have someone who has been through similar circumstances and who knows the nuances I experience is valuable. In the cohort I couldn't have asked for a better group of peers who we were able to grow with over the year, but also see different points of view in one room. I still keep in touch with my mentor Dr. Stella Coakley, and believe having someone whom you can discuss everything from daily issues to future endeavors helps prepare you for the next step in life."
Liz's future plans include "...achieving a Masters in Global Food Law from Michigan State University in approximately two years, possibly getting a promotion in my current company, and making some pretty awesome candies!!"-->
Thanks to our corporate sponsors Northwest Farm Credit Services, CHS Inc. and individual donors, students like Paul are able to put their learning into practice. Paul is in his junior year majoring in Forestry with options in Forest Restoration and Forest Management. This past Fall term, he helped lead a group of students to the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, a long-term research site ran by the US Forest Service in order to understand long-term ecological processes in old-growth forests. Students also helped with trail maintenance in the forest.
Paul says about the opportunity, "The ecological processes of an old-growth forest are very important for me in the context of managed forests, and I think it is a message that is often lost among forestry students due to the political divide present in the field. This is an opportunity for me to bridge the gap between the perspective of economically focused, managed forestry and the broader ecosystem that we can work to incorporate into our management practices. Having this conversation can be difficult, and I feel challenged to deliver a program to my peers that is both effective and impactful."
Scholarships provided through the Leadership Academy help students like Paul make progress on their personal development plan leadership goals. He says, "The primary goal that this addresses is my desire to improve my communication strategies when speaking to groups that may have bias or deeply held political opinions, and how to effectively facilitate dialogue between groups with differing viewpoints or opinions. This will be accomplished by making clear educational or philosophical objectives to the overall program, and evaluating how successful I was in achieving my desired outcomes."
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We are pleased to launch this year, our new "Monthly Giving Society." The Society consists of a special group of valued partners, who make a monthly gift to help regularly support the Leadership Academy. Recurring donations of $10 or $15 give the Academy a steady stream of support to rely on, and it's easy on your budget. It's a win-win!
For the month of January, when you join at any amount, you will receive a welcome kit including photos and stories of our students, recognition in our newsletter, and a book from our leadership library.
Thank you for helping to make the Leadership Academy a success in 2020!
Click the "Join Now" button below and make sure to check the box on the donation page that says "I would like to make a recurring gift to OSU."
For other news, please visit our website.
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Leadership Academy
Oregon State University
108 Strand Agriculture Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-2661