Programs and events

Register for upcoming events

Coffee Talks

Save the date: Tuesday, September 24, 2024, Check-in begins at 8:30am
The WSU Student Center Ballroom

Power of Affirmations

Wednesday, May 22, 2024, Noon - 1 pm
Virtual Meeting (Zoom link sent upon registration)

Led by Jaimie Hutchison, Director of Michigan State University's WorkLife Office

Affirmations are a powerful tool for transforming our mindset, influencing our feelings, and guiding our actions, especially in enhancing workplace wellbeing. This workshop focuses on the importance of affirmations in combating negative self-perceptions like anxiety and imposter syndrome, while promoting a healthier, more positive work environment. Participants will gain insights into the effectiveness of affirmations and learn practical methods to leverage them for personal and professional growth.

Learning Objectives:

Grasp the influence of self-talk on emotions and behaviors, and how affirmations can positively alter this dynamic.
Delve into the scientific basis behind affirmations and their efficacy.
Acquire skills in creating and using affirmations to counteract anxiety, imposter syndrome, and bolster workplace wellbeing.

Past events

Women's History Month Panel Discussion: Women Rising

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 8 - 10 am
Continental Breakfast at 8 am, Student Center Ballroom

Program welcome by WSU Board of Governors Chair Shirley Stancato
Opening remarks (virtual) by WSU President Kimberly Espy

Meet the Panelists

Carolyn Hafner, Assoc VP & Chief HR Officer (Moderator)
Lisa Shrader, Assistant Vice President, Academic Affairs
Virginia Kleist, Dean, Mike Ilitch School of Business
Donyale Padgett, Chief Diversity Officer (Moderator)
Stephanie Hawkes, Senior Director, Multicultural Student Engagement
Denise Taliaferro Baszile, Dean, College of Education

Bullying in the Workplace

Friday, February 28, 2024, Noon - 1 pm
Virtual Meeting (Zoom link sent upon registration)

Led by Deborah A. Gibson, Ed.D., Academic Services Officer III - College of Education this workshop is designed to further the attendee's understanding of bullying and incivility. It provides a comprehensive look at how to determine when a situation is bullying and when it is not. The workshop will cover resources for addressing bullying at Wayne State University.

Kickoff 2024 with a Powerful Career and Personal Vision Board

Thursday, January 24, 2024, Noon - 1 pm
Student Center/Hilberry AB

Hosted by Ranae Hamama, Associate Director for Transfer Student Success, during this hands-on workshop you will:

Learn importance of visioning and how to make a vision board
Create your own vision board (on poster or digitial)
Network with others and get support for your visions

Please note: Limited supplies will be provided, but you are also welcome to bring your own magazines and/or photos for your board.

What to do when your career is stuck?

Friday, November 10, 2023: Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Virtual Meeting (Zoom link sent upon registration)

Led by Nannette McCleary, M.A., L.P.C., University Counselor III - Career Planning, WSU Career Services, this interactive session strives to focus on workplace strategies that allow employees to personally develop and manage their careers. As a result of attending this session, participants will:

Review workplace attractors that impact job satisfaction and retention
Discuss career management sources of energy and personal renewal
Share ideas for recharging professional development and personal engagement

Coffee Talks: "Empowerment: The Freedom in our Strength"

Thursday, September 14, 2023: 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.
The WSU Student Center Ballroom

Join us for coffee and engaging conversations with leaders from Wayne State University! This is a unique opportunity to take part in intimate small-group table discussions focusing on topics tailored to empower both your personal and professional life. Some of the topics to be discussed include enhancing your credibility, seizing control of your career path, ensuring personal safety, and skillfully navigating gender dynamics.

A light breakfast will be served.

Agenda
8:30 – 9 a.m. – Registration, breakfast and networking
9 - 11:20 a.m. - Program and Table Talk Discussions

The Benefits of Mindfulness

Monday, June 26, 2023 from 12 - 12:50pm

Join Wayne Women LEAD for a virtual workshop focused on the benefits of mindfulness.

Presented by Angela Fedewa, PhD, LP, University Counselor III in the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) unit; this workshop will introduce participants to meditation and mindfulness skills that will help anchor them in the present moment. Time in meditation and practicing mindfulness skills has been found to lead to a number of physical and psychological benefits including calming the nervous system, increased awareness and attention, decreased perceived stress, increased compassion, and improvement in sleep. Whether you have experience in mindfulness and meditation or none at all, you can benefit from taking a break and attending the workshop. Hope to see you there!

Next Level Career Conversations

Applications closed for the 2023 cohort.

What does it take to progress in your career?

Over the course of this eight-month program, participants will meet with a next-level leader a minimum of four times to:

Discuss the participant's career goals
Create a career development plan
Monitor progress towards the career development plan
Celebrate successes

You are the whole package: Negotiating the job conditions you need and deserve

March 22, 2022

Wayne Women LEAD is pleased to partner with The President's Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) to present a workshop led by Loraleigh Keashly, Professor of Communications.

Many people feel awkward about negotiating their job conditions and environment (including pay). Often that is because they are not sure it is legitimate to ask and expect that their work and their needs be recognized and affirmed. And even if they do feel it is okay to ask, they are not sure how to ask. In this session, we will talk about, and you will identify, the value of your work and what you want for your job conditions and environment in order to continue to grow. We will look at how to prepare for these conversations and provide some tips for increasing the chances you will get what you need and want.

Engaging your Manager in Exploring Career Progression Possibilities

March 1, 2023

Wayne Women LEAD is pleased to partner with The President's Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) to present a workshop led by Dawn Aziz, PhD, Director, Organization and Development and Certified Career Development Facilitator & Julie Crego, Interim Director, MPN (Medicine, Pharmacy & Nursing) Region, and CoSW Chair

Have you ever felt "stuck" in your career and not sure what opportunities exist to continue to grow at WSU? Together we'll invest time to clarify opportunities to craft a customized journey based upon our goals and career curiosities and identify questions we could use to brainstorm alongside our manager. Have even higher confidence in sparking this conversation and a sense of empowerment knowing that you have a path and support network behind you!

Plotting and Scheming: Planning Goals for Professional Development and Growth

February 8, 2023

Proper goal setting can turn into incredible action plans. Through exploring examples of professional, academic, and personal SMART goals, participants will draft their own SMART goals and initiate action plans to complete them. Join Wayne Women LEAD for this interactive workshop with Dr. Leah Robinson, Director, School of Medicine, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Professional Identity: Developing Yourself, Developing Your Career

December 8, 2022

Are you a professional woman who wants to continue to develop your career, but it feels like it is momentarily stalled? Join WSU Wayne Women LEAD for an experiential session on discovering your professional identity and how developing yourself can help you develop your career. Led by Dr. Monica Tracey, professor of Learning Design and Technology in the Administrative and Organizational Division in the College of Education.

Coffee Talks: Moving your Career Forward

September 23, 2022

This event was focused on strategies to move your career forward, with a panel discussion with three Wayne Women leaders who shared their insights, and three 20-minute small round-table discussions.

Some of the topics for table discussions included:

Courageous Conversations: How to have a conversation with your current boss about your career
Writing the Standout Resume
Interviewing in a Virtual World
Mentoring, Coaching, and Sponsorship
Taking your Elevator Pitch to the Top

Incorporating Purpose into Your Personal and Professional Life (Part 2) Hands-on Workshop

June 23, 2022

In April, Wayne Women Lead held a webinar on incorporating purpose into your personal and professional life. During this event, Dr. David Taylor shared with us how the pandemic has caused many to reevaluate how we spend our time searching for a deeper purpose in our personal and professional lives, and how finding one's purpose can impact our well-being and satisfaction. The webinar was received so well that Dr. Taylor is offering a Part 2 in which participants engage in self-exploration to find their own purpose, and outline a process to incorporate this purpose into their personal and professional lives. Attending the first webinar is not a prerequisite for attending this workshop.

Incorporating Purpose and Flow into Your Personal and Professional Life

April 28, 2022

The last two years of the pandemic have left many of us reevaluating how we spend our time searching for a deeper purpose in our personal and professional lives. We explored the meaning of "purpose" in one's life, discover your purpose, and how incorporating purpose into your work life can lead to experiencing "flow," a positive state that impacts your satisfaction, energy, and productivity.

The workshop was led by Dr. David Taylor, an industrial/organizational psychologist experienced in both the practice and science of leadership development and human capital management. Dr. Taylor's consulting practice, Growth Mindset Partners LLC, helps leaders identify and live their purpose. Prior to consulting, Dr. Taylor received his Ph.D. from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, served on the faculty at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and was an advertising and marketing executive at companies such as Kraft Foods, Eli Lilly, and Abbott Pharmaceuticals.

Mentoring Essentials and Personal Advisory Boards

January 28, 2022

This webinar will include an overview of the Wayne Women Lead Next Level Career Conversations program.

What Do I say? Conversations Regarding Implicit Bias and Stereotypes

October 19, 2021

Kimberly Morgan, Ed. D., past Institutional Representative to MI-ACE/past Chair of Wayne Women LEAD

Avoiding implicit bias and stereotypes are all the rage now. And for good reason. There is implicit bias training popping up everywhere, and recently Wayne Women LEAD did a workshop on stereotype threat and how to avoid it. At attendee request, we are doing a follow up to that workshop. It is an interactive opportunity to learn what to say and do in situations where stereotype threat and implicit bias might be issues. What do we say when someone says or does something biased? How do we intervene when we witness that? How do we word conversations around stereotype threat and implicit bias? How do we give constructive criticism? Through examples and role playing we will learn methods that can work in typical situations.

What Do I Say

Your Career is a Project

July 13, 2021

WSU Alumna, Aldona Valicenti, M.S. '67, Commissioner/Chief Information Officer for the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government

In many cases, we leave our careers to evolve by default processes or permit events to dictate the next steps for our advancement. This session will outline the steps to take to make a realistic assessment about your future career goals. Your career is your project and responsibility to manage with the same attention and analysis as you do your daily work. The speaker will highlight events from her own experiences. You can shape your future work goals!

Empowering Our Team: Reducing or Removing Stereotype Threat in a Diverse Work Environment

June 8, 2021

Kimberly Morgan, Ed. D., Academic Advisor, WSU Department of Mathematics, past Institutional Representative to MI-ACE/Chair of Wayne Women LEAD

When stereotypes regarding the characteristics and social groups of individuals are made salient, it can negatively affect individual performance; and when that happens the team suffers. By empowering individuals in our team regarding what they may feel are negative stereotypes - consciously or unconsciously -, we can empower them to overcome negativity and bring greater productivity to the team. In turn, our teammates become more successful, as well. During this session, participants will learn about stereotypes and stereotype threat, which is the fear of confirming in oneself a negative stereotype due to performance on difficult or self-evaluative tasks. Implementing anti-stereotype threat initiatives within the team and individually can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects. Learn how through discussion and breakout sessions.

Women Leading Community Engagement

April 13, 2021

Sheryl Kubiak, Ph.D., Dean and Professor, WSU School of Social Work and Founding Director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice

Dean Sheryl Kubiak shared her journey to build community-engaged practice into her academic life and the formation of the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice. Dean Kubiak illustrated her successful multidisciplinary trajectory (nursing, social work, psychology) as a backdrop to inspire Wayne Women towards community change efforts.

Setting your 2021 Professional Development Goals

January 28, 2021

Stephanie Hawkes, Ed.D., Assistant Director, Office of Multicultural Student Engagement
Shantalea Johns, Ed.D., Director of Continuing Education and Interprofessional Education, School of Social Work

In this interactive session, participants will walk through the components of a professional development plan, reflect on their achievements from 2020, and discuss with others their goals for 2021. Participants will leave with a framework on how to create a professional development plan and strategies for how to achieve their goals.

Leadership Series: Virtual Coffee Talks with Successful Women Work/Family/Life Strains: Covid-19 and the New Workplace

December 4, 2020

Krista Brumley,Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Manythink that the non-work demands facing employees who are working from home due to COVID-19, especially working parents, are at odds with work goals/performance objectives. This is not necessarily the case.Join us to discuss how to navigate conversations about performance expectations and work flexibility in the COVID-19 workplace environment.Specifically,we will discuss questions such ashow do employees discuss their challenges without fear of repercussions, how do we curb resentment towards peers without these responsibilities, how do we stop the derailment of women's progress in the workplace,how do managers maximize employee productivityandwell-being, and how do managers evaluate employee performance in this new environment.

Making a Positive Online Impression

November 13, 2020

Stephanie Tong, Associate Professor, Department of Communication

Now more than ever, cultivating a professional online social media presence is critical to our continued career advancement. Of course, developing and maintaining our online selves is a part-time job that requires time and effort, and this is often on top of our regular work responsibilities! In this coffee talk, we'll begin by reviewing what communication researchers have learned about online self-presentation and impression formationfor example, what "cues" signal credibility in a social media profile? How do we select an appropriate platform that fits your professional goals? We will end with a discussion that helps you identify what you want to do with social media professionally, and how you can create a solid, believable, online persona across varying social media platforms.

Combatting Imposter Syndrome Amid the Pandemic

October 30, 2020

Diane Fears, Director of Career and Professional Development and Student Voluntary Pro Bono Program

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has largely shifted university operations from in-person to online, many of us are witnessing the informal modes of communication and recognition that come with occupying a shared space fade away and isolation set in. Though you may be working harder than ever, remote work offers no opportunity for chance encounters with colleagues and managers such that giving and receiving casual feedback and validation requires extra effort. It's easy to feel anxious about whether the right people are noticing your hard work, and even when they are, that nagging feeling of self-doubt, or feeling like an impostor, can derail your best efforts. Join us to learn how to identify imposter syndrome and adopt strategies to combat it in our new environment.

Now that you know what implicit bias is, what do you do about it?

September 24, 2020

Jahzara D. E. Mayes, Ed.D & Nadia Saadat, Ph.D.

This interactive workshop will cover the impact of implicit bias and how to combat bias and stereotyping. There will be a brief overview of implicit bias, however, this workshop will be focused on actions and activities to undertake to manage the automatic responses that implicit bias engages.It is recommended that participants take an implicit bias assessment prior to engaging in the workshop.Details will be provided to the registrants.

Dr. Jahzara D. E. Mayes received a MA in Humanities from CMU and a BBA from the University of Michigan. She earned her Ed.D in Educational Leadership (Higher Education focus) from Central Michigan University. Currently, Dr. Mayes is engaged in the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and pedagogical professional development activities for higher education.

Dr. Nadia Saadat received her MS and Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food Science from Wayne State University and has a clinical background as a physician. She was one of the three recipients of the ReBUILDetroit postdoctoral fellowship which provided her the opportunity to be trained as a culturally aware mentor. Dr. Saadat is involved in pedagogical research activities with the ReBUILDetroit Online Learning Community.

Managing Your Seat at the Table

August 3, 2020

Tonya Matthews, Associate Provost for Workforce Development

Tonya M. Matthews, Ph.D. Bio and Event Description We often hear the saying "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu!" As we move forward in our careers and consider various leadership roles and opportunities, we realize that getting to the table is one journey, and managing your time, skills, and personal contribution to the table is another. Managing brand and leveraging assets in these situations can be particularly challenging for women leaders. Join Wayne Women Lead and Dr. Tonya Matthews as she hosts an interactive workshop to support your "table skills" - from managing your seat at the table to recognizing the table at which you already set. Online live virtual event with breakout sessions! View the flyer for the Managing Your Seat at the Table event (print only).

Tonya M. Matthews, Ph.D. is Associate Provost for Inclusive Workforce Development and Director of the STEM Learning Innovation Center, an interdisciplinary learning center for WSU undergraduate and graduate students, and a hub for WSU K-12 outreach. In this role, Dr. Matthews is part of the WSU leadership team setting a vision to address the challenge of an inclusive STEM student success pipeline and pathway from "PreK-to-Gray."

Creating A Professional Growth Plan in Times of Crisis

June 25, 2020

Stephanie Hawkes, Assistant Director, Office of Multicultural Student Engagement and Shantalea Johns, Academic Services Officer III/Part-Time Faculty Member, School of Social Work

In this time of crisis and unprecedented change, we have been challenged in new ways as leaders, colleagues, and friends. As we work toward prioritizing professional and personal responsibilities, it's important to try to make space to consider what growth opportunities may exist in this time and if we are ready to explore them. In this session, participants will be guided through reflective exercises to take inventory of where they are professionally, determine if and how a professional development plan is right for them, and generate the next steps to make progress towards new goals. View the flyer for the Creating a Professional Growth Plan in Times of Crisis event (print only).

Navigating Difficult Conversations

February 13, 2020

Christine L. Jackson Professor of Management, Chair, Department of Management and Information Systems

Successfully handling difficult conversations can strengthen relationships and improve decision-making. Unfortunately, we often make matters worse by avoiding or entering into these high-stakes conversations unprepared. At this workshop, you will learn how to recognize when to initiate or engage in these often emotion-laden conversations, and how to navigate difficult conversations when they occur. View the flyer for Navigating Difficult Conversations event (print only).

Implicit Bias and the Professional Advancement of Women

November 7, 2019

Presenter: Lauren M. Hamel, Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology

During this workshop, you will gain an understanding of what implicit bias is and how it influences behaviors. Attention will be given to what implicit bias means for women, especially as they advance in their careers. The workshop will include an interactive component demonstrating how implicit biases can influence our perceptions and subsequent decisions.

Notorious vs. Noteworthy: The Art of Self-Promotion

July 24, 2019

Annmarie Cano, Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Faculty Success

Women's accomplishments are not always recognized by peers, including other women. Women are both notoriously undervalued and notorious for undervaluing themselves. Let's flip the script and be noteworthy! In this workshop, we'll discuss why being noteworthy is important for you, other women, and the university at large. We'll also discuss strategies to promote your work and that of others to shift the culture around who is valued and recognized for their work. View the flyer for the Art of Self-Promotion event (print only).

Creating your Own Executive Presence to Drive Success

June 17, 2019

Heidi Ann Coates, Associate Vice President, Corporate and Foundation Relations and Vanessa Miller Alumni and Donor Relations Officer, Mike Ilitch School of Business

This interactive session will allow participants to explore the importance of establishing and sustaining an executive presence that will drive their upward mobility. Join Heidi Ann Coates, and her mentee in Wayne Women Lead's Next Level Leader Program, Vanessa Miller, as they lead participants through a process to create their personal executive presence agenda. View the flyer for the Creating Your Own Executive Presence to Drive Success event (print only).