Live. Learn. Lead. Symposium 2024
March 1, 2024
The Leadership Symposium aims to explore and teach strategies to navigate conflict, enhance work-life balance, and develop impactful mentorship connections as female scholars and professionals. This empowering event is not just about listening – it's about actively practicing leadership skills, expanding your network, and reflecting on how you can thrive as a leader. Discover the keys to resilience and wellness as a leader through interactive and fun sessions that provide tangible takeaways. Following the keynote address and panels, students will engage in a networking reception with each other, attending faculty and alumni, and Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, USN, Retired.
The Live Learn Lead Symposium is sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Sesquicentennial Grant. This event is open to all students at Vanderbilt University, including undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The Symposium will be an in person event with no virtual component.
Symposium Schedule: Friday, March 1
Program will be held in Board of Trust Room in the Student Life Center, Vanderbilt University. Business casual dress is requested.
10:00am-11:00am: Registration and Check-in
11:15am-12:00pm: Welcome and Opening Remarks by Provost C. Cybele Raver
12:00pm-1:30pm: Lunch
In Conversation with Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, USN, Retired
1:45pm-2:45pm: Panel Session 1
Navigating Conflict and Cultivating Community
Moderator: Alayna Hayes, Assistant Provost and Senior Director, Career Center
Panelists:
Samar Ali, Research Professor of Political Science and Law; Co-Chair, Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy
Christine Kendzior, LTC, US Army; Professor of Military Science; Director of Army Officer Education
Sharon Shields, Senior Associate Dean at Peabody College
3:00pm-4:00pm: Panel Session 2
Thriving as a Leader in Uncertain Times
Moderator: Erin Calipari, Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research; Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology
Panelists:
Brittany Chase, Assistant Dean for Non-Degree Programs; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at the Blair School of Music
Traci Ray, Associate Dean for Student Engagement and Leadership
Tiffiny Tung, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education; Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Social and Natural Sciences; Professor of Anthropology
4:15pm-4:30pm: Networking Reception Preview and Activity facilitated by Yesi Sevilla
4:30pm-5:45pm: Networking Reception in the Admiral's Room in the Memorial Gymnasium
VandyPASS
You are welcome to attend all sections or attend only certain sections. In order to attain a VandyPASS Badge for Leadership, you must attend at least two of these four sections: the Lunch Session, Panel Session 1, Panel Session 2 or the Networking Reception. Learn more about VandyPASS here.
Meet the Keynote Speaker
Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, USN, Retired
During her career and currently as a motivational/leadership speaker and defense and leadership consultant, Vice Admiral Tyson has traveled extensively around the world sharing her experiences hoping to help future generations make the world a better place. She is currently Vice Chair of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and Chairman of the Audit Committee and serves on the Los Angeles Fleet Week Leadership Council and the National Security Advisory Council of the U.S, Global Leadership Coalition. Tyson served over 38 years on active duty in the United States Navy, retiring as a Vice Admiral. She is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and a graduate of Vanderbilt University. She received her commission through Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and earned her Naval Flight Officer wings in 1983.
Meet the Panel Moderators
Alayna Hayes, EdD
Assistant Provost and Senior Director, Career Center
Prior to joining Vanderbilt in June 2022, Dr. Hayes was the Senior Director of Life Design-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Life Design Lab at Johns Hopkins University where she led the SOAR Team (Seizing Opportunities, Access, and Relationships), a group of seven Life Design Educators who work in co-curricular spaces on campus focusing on connecting with first-generation and limited income students. Having been at Hopkins for six years, Dr. Hayes previously led employer relations efforts for the then named Homewood Career Center. Before transitioning to higher education, she worked in pharmaceutical sales for several companies including Pfizer Animal Health and GlaxoSmithKline.
Erin S Calipari, PhD
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research
Dr. Calipari has been studying the neuroscience of addiction since 2009 when she began her graduate career. She has worked with leaders in the field to develop a research program that is focused on solving this crisis. Her lab has made seminal discoveries on how drug use changes the brain at the systems and molecular level to give rise to addiction. Over her career, she has published over 90 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews on these topics. In her role as director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, she is leading a large group of faculty, students, and staff as they work together to understand the brain and the factors that confer risk to addiction. The center conducts research that is at the frontier of systems neuroscience, molecular biology, pharmacology, and drug development.
Student Testimonial
Being able to be both a participant and student intern for the Live. Learn. Lead. Sesquicentennial Grant Program provided me with more opportunities than I could have imagined as a student at Vanderbilt. As an active Naval ROTC student my schedule was often packed with classes, Unit responsibilities, and extracurriculars. However, these activities were often siloed into interactions with people in the ROTC program with me, or with the same group of friends I often spent time with. The grant program gave me an opportunity to network and meet people outside of my usual circle and bridge those segmented busy groups that thrive on Vanderbilt's campus. With the Live. Learn. Lead. Symposium, I along with Dr. Jill Stratton and other key members of the grant team, were able to see this goal of networking and connection come to life, with a waitlist for attendance and participants who were invested in what the mission of the grant was and in making themselves better team members and leaders in their respective communities. Through the grant events such as Thrive Dinners and the Symposium I was able to personally grow to be more comfortable in a leadership role, with a focus on serving those that I lead, as this was a theme of many of our speakers. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to be a part of this exceptional program.
Kate Lanham, VU '24
Questions
For questions or additional details regarding the Symposium, please contact Macy Su at macy.s.su@vanderbilt.edu.
