Student Life and the Conference Committee welcome you to the fifth annual Inspiring R’Leaders Conference.
This daylong conference will energize, inspire and equip you with the essential tools to create positive change in your community. You’ll hear from game changing speakers and attend workshops that address topics like: relationship building, leadership for introverts, identity development, servant leadership, civic engagement and many more crucial elements of leadership. Participants will be challenged to grow as individuals, lead others and make positive changes in society.
The Inspiring R’Leaders Conference fulfills the “society” level requirement of the Leadership in Action Certificate Program. For more information about LACP, please contact Gerry at (951) 827-5987 or gerardo.medina@ucr.edu. or visit go.ucr.edu/LeadershipInAction.
For special accessibility/accommodation questions/requests, please contact Gerry at (951) 827-5987 or gerardo.medina@ucr.edu. A notice of 2-weeks prior to the event would be appreciated to allow the university sufficient time to make arrangements.
Recognized by the White House as a “Champion of Change” and a Forbes “30-Under-30” honoree, Jamira Burley is the essence of perseverance.
For over a decade, Jamira has made it her mission to employ her personal experiences as the driving force to improve the lives of others — from implementing anti-violence programs throughout Philadelphia – when she was just a high school student, to collaborating with the United Nations to organize youth workshops around the world.
Past roles include, the National Deputy Millennial Vote Director at the Hillary For America campaign. Prior to that, she managed fifty percent of the U.S. portfolio at Amnesty International USA — one of the first and largest human rights organizations in the world.
Currently, Jamira is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and the Head of Youth Engagement and Skills for the Global Business Coalition for Education — helping to ensure a collaborative relationship between youth, business leaders and multilateral organizations. The goal is to enable innovative ways to educate, engage and activate young people around the world. She also consults with numerous public and private entities on how to authentically engage impacted communities. She works at the intersection of policy, community and social good.
Her ardor for personal and social advancement is undeniable! She leads with marked expertise on topics, such as youth engagement, education reform, global citizenship, gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform. In 2018, she was the first United States citizen awarded the Global Leadership Award for Vital Voices.
Jamira Burley provides unique insight that will help actualize the change we all so desperately need.
Choose one workshop that you would like to attend during this session.
Dr. Cassandra Van Zandt — University Writing Program
Effective leadership draws on who you are — your history, your abilities, your convictions, and yes, even your shortcomings. This workshop centers on practical steps to build confidence and skills as you develop your leadership to serve your communities.
Location: HUB 260
Naime Laskar — Coordinator of Associated Students Program Board
The relationships you have with coworkers, colleagues, the community and even folks you don’t completely get along with are critical for achieving your goals. Learn more about how to build and maintain great working relationships that will help you find new opportunities and establish your network.
Location: HUB 265
Kristen Roberts — Senior Success Coordinator & Career Counselor
Emotional intelligence refers to our ability to understand, express and leverage our own and others' emotions — especially when building relationships, coping with challenges and making decisions. Learn the various components of emotional intelligence, its importance in your personal/professional life and tips to develop your skills.
Location: HUB 268
Dr. Annika Speer — Assistant Professor of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production
In this workshop, Professor Speer addresses important components of persuasive speech. She will give an introduction to fundamental rhetorical theory and provide constructive tips for putting this theory into practice. Topics include the power of storytelling and the necessity of audience adaptation.
Location: HUB 269
Vanessa Le & Julia Jacob — University Honors Ambassadors
This workshop presents tools that introverted leaders can utilize to remain successful in a variety of situations. We will highlight common challenges faced by leaders with regards to four different types of introversion and discuss different strategies to effectively handle them.
Location: HUB 355
Adam Daniels — Interim Senior Coordinator of Student Life
In this interactive workshop, participants will take the True Colors leadership assessment and then debrief their personal style of leading a group, communicating with others and handling conflict. This workshop is a fan favorite of student organization leaders especially, but any student interested in learning about their style of leadership is welcome to attend!
Location: HUB 367
Ed E-Nunu — Interim Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Involvement Center
Colleges and universities are looking at ways to improve the inclusive spaces on campuses for campus populations and the undergraduates served. #campusclimategoals: The Cultural Awareness Project workshop will have attendees discuss how it is the responsibility of ALL (faculty, staff & students) to build and foster inclusivity on their campus.
Location: HUB 379
Choose one workshop that you would like to attend during this session.
Kyle E. Ingram, Ph.D. — Assistant Professor of Management, School of Business
Through this workshop, teams will engage in a competitive simulation aimed at helping participants understand more about their role as a leader and team member. This interactive session will clarify the importance of goal setting, leadership and role clarity when engaging in teamwork. (Please arrive on time. Latecomers are not admitted.)
Location: HUB 265
Adam Daniels — Interim Senior Coordinator of Student Life
It can be difficult to make change, be it something small in your community or on your campus, or something huge on a national or international level. It’s vital to find allies in this journey that can offer you resources and support, so in this workshop we’ll give you practical tips on building coalitions and how to find all the resources you need to make your idea become a reality.
Location: HUB 268
Kavin Martin, M.Ed., Senior Recreation Supervisor, Competitive Sports Director, Student Recreation Center
What is leadership? Where are you and where do you want to go in regards to leadership? This is an introduction to leadership and understanding that leading means servitude. You will recognize and develop effective leadership skills that are required from confident leaders.
Location: HUB 355
Andrew Larratt-Smith — Campus Ombuds
Conflict is a fact of life. This interactive session will improve your ability to engage in constructive conflict with friends, family and others. We will identify five conflict styles, and when it is best to utilize each one.
Location: HUB 367
Latoya Ambrose — University Honors Counselor
The art of delegation can be a simple yet challenging task. As a leader, you have to trust your team to complete tasks that are critical to the success of your organization. During this workshop, you will learn how to navigate those challenges effectively and complete tasks as a cohesive team.
Location: HUB 379
Nayaab Kazmi — Advisor, Fraternity and Sorority Involvement Center
Anahi Cruz — Chairperson, Associated Students Program Board
This workshop will help student leaders identify social issues that they are interested in and will offer them the process for developing creative solutions to said issues. We will also look at examples of impactful — and sometimes simple — solutions to social issues from around the world. Come find out how easy it can be to get started on the change you want see.
Location: HUB 269
Choose one workshop that you would like to attend during this session.
Andonia Carter — Assistant Director of Academic Resource Center
Growing up we all received messages about various groups of people from the many influences in our life including: family members, friends, society, the media, religion, etc. This workshop will allow individuals to reflect on the messaging they received about women, men, races/ethnicities, religions that are different from their own. We'll discuss how this relates to our own social identities and socialization and how we can interrupt our cycle of socialization and begin joining personal, group and collective empowerment and how it all relates to leadership.
Location: HUB 260
Ali Saadat — Student Development Specialist of Middle Eastern Student Center
Are you okay with everything that happens in your community, society and in politics? If not, come and learn how to become an active agent of change in the classroom, in your community and in the streets.
Location: HUB 265
Marlenee Blas, M.Ed — Associate Director of Center for Social Innovation
Are you an emerging and or experienced student leader? How do you take your energy and advocacy work to make meaningful impact? This workshop will focus on leadership and community, and we will begin to discuss how you can take your projects outside of UCR. Join the conversation! We will discuss how you can sharpen your leadership skills, develop a narrative to grow your project and devise a strategy to grow beyond UCR for greater impact.
Location: HUB 268
Carlos Cruz, Brisely Martinez, Ramon Leija, Yvette Salazar, Alex Ruvalcaba & Raul Armenta — Underground Scholars Initiative
Underground Scholars Initiative (USI) at UCR will introduce the concept of the Prison-to-School pipeline that seeks to reverse the School-to-Prison pipeline in order to advocate for education as an alternative to mass incarceration. The presentation will cover real lived experiences of formerly incarcerated and system impacted students combined with the popular academic theoretical discourse of the era of mass incarceration. The workshop will also cover ways in which this stigmatized population faces multiple systemic and institutional barriers that can impede their chances to pursue higher education, as well as tactics to eliminate such barriers.
Location: HUB 269
Joab Corey — Assistant Professor of Teaching in Economics
This workshop is designed to make attendees aware that not all charitable efforts are equally productive, and some attempts to assist people may actually hurt the very group of people you intend to help. The presentation will identify the differences between toxic charitable efforts that create dependency as well as more productive charitable efforts that will lead to long-term sustainable change and economic progress. The presentation will conclude by making attendees aware of the various opportunities they have to engage in productive charitable efforts immediately, should they choose to do so.
Location: HUB 355
Dr. Sean Jasso — Professor of Practice for School of Business
All of you will work for or create a corporation — whether small, large, global, nonprofit, family-owned, shareholder-owned or employee-owned. This workshop aims to show you how the most competitive firms in the world (again, small and large) not only provide jobs we need and products we want, but equally important, provide opportunities to give back unlike any entity in the world. See you at the workshop!
Location: HUB 367
Ron Loveridge — Faculty for Political Science Department (1965 - present), Director for the Center of Sustainable Suburban Development (2012-present), Mayor of Riverside (1994-2012)
We teach little about local politics, but it's here that you can participate and make a difference. The great advantage of local politics is access. There are many opportunities to take part and, more importantly, to lead. I will draw on lessons from over 50 years of teaching at UCR and 33 years in elected office in the City of Riverside.
Location: HUB 379
We hope you leave this conference with the tools you need for the change you're going to bring to this world! Thank you for your interest in our conference.
We would like to extend a distinct “thank you” to the committee members who volunteered their time, knowledge and expertise to make this leadership conference possible. These unsung heroes worked tirelessly to turn a vision into a reality. Please join us in applauding their efforts.
Anahi Cruz – Chairperson, Associated Students Program Board
Gerry Medina – Coordinator, Leadership and Service Programs for Student Life
Jamal Myrick – Glen Mor Resident Director, Residential Life
Latoya Ambrose – University Honors Counselor – Events and Leadership
Nathaly Martinez – Program Coordinator, Women’s Resource Center
Nayaab Kazmi – Advisor, Fraternity and Sorority Involvement Center for Student Life
Thomas Cunningham – Aquatics Coordinator-Programs, Student Recreation Center
Toluwani Cole – President, Associated Students of UCR
Willie Blackmon – Assistant Director of Academic Mentoring Programs, Academic Resource Center
Yashasvi Chandrabhatta – Director of Special Events, Associated Students Program Board
We extend a special “thank you” to the rest of the Student Life team for supporting the conference.
Adam Daniels – Interim Senior Coordinator
Carly Garcia – Interim Assistant Director
Donna Dunn – Budget, Personnel, and Program Assistant, Associated Students Program Board
Ed E-Nunu – Interim Coordinator, Fraternity and Sorority Involvement Center
Ellen Whitehead – Interim Dean of Students and Director of Student Life
Geo Mayoral – Interim Coordinator, Student Orgs and Highlander Band
Gerry Medina – Coordinator, Leadership and Service Programs
Heather Correa – Coordinator, New Student Programs
Jennifer Ferrante – Budget, Personnel, and Program Assistant
Kadie Heck – Advisor, Associated Students Program Board
Kerri Soscia – Advisor for New Student Programs
Naime Laskar – Coordinator, Associated Students Program Board
Nayaab Kazmi – Advisor, Fraternity and Sorority Involvement Center
Tami Thacker – Veteran Services
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DISCLAIMER: This information is accurate and reliable at time of posting, but may change without notice. Please contact Student Life for the most up-to-date information.
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