President's Insider Spring 2016

SPRING 2016

President’s

INSIDER

FROM THE DESK OF CHRISTOPHER B. HOWARD, D.PHIL, PRESIDENT OF ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY

For my first edition of this newsletter for the university’s most loyal supporters, I thought I might take the opportunity to talk about one of the aspects of my new job that appeals to me the most: the priority RMU places on empowering women to be leaders. This may seem unexpected, coming from someone whose last job was being president of an all-male school, HampdenSydney College. But I have learned much in life and benefited immeasurably thanks to female mentors.

We are fortunate to also have several successful and influential professional women on the Board of Trustees, including our newly elected vice chair, Carrie Coghill ‘08, the president and CEO of Coghill Investment Strategies. Carrie has been very actively involved in a new program the university launched just over a year ago called the Women’s Leadership and Mentorship Program. The four-year cohort program is highly competitive. You can read more about it on the next page.

Back when I was at the Air Force Academy, my political science professor really seemed to “get” me. Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson also had been a student athlete back in her days as a cadet at the academy, making Academic All-American in basketball — she’s still their second-leading scorer — and then going on to be a Rhodes Scholar. It was her encouragement that inspired me to apply for the scholarship myself. Lt. Gen. Johnson went on to become the first female superintendent of the Air Force Academy. I am very honored that she has agreed to come to Moon Township in October to be the keynote speaker at my formal installation here.

The Women’s Leadership and Mentorship Program is actively seeking professional mentors they can pair with bright, promising young female juniors and seniors. Mentors will meet one-on-one with a student four times over the course of a year to nurture her leadership skills and introduce her to opportunities and networks that can help her to grow professionally.

So I know firsthand what a pivotal influence an accomplished female mentor such as Lt. Gen. Johnson can have on a young person.

That explains why my first official act as president of Robert Morris University was to sign the American Council on Education’s “Moving the Needle” pledge, committing my efforts toward the goal that by 2030, half of all college and university chief executives will be women. You may already be aware that each of the deans of RMU’s five academic schools is a woman. Maria Kalevitch, the dean of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, is one of only 28 female deans out of more than 450 ABET-accredited engineering schools in the United States.

I have volunteered to be a professional mentor to a WLMP student — both men and women are welcome. It’s a simple motivation: the chance to impact the future of an emerging young leader, just as Lt. Gen. Johnson impacted mine. I encourage you to contact the WLMP too, and take this opportunity to make a personal difference in a student’s life by giving of your most valuable resource — your time.

Sincerely,

Christopher B. Howard, D.Phil.

President’s

INSIDER

SEEKING MENTORS FOR FEMALE STUDENTS

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The right mentor can be extremely influential “One-on-one mentoring has proven to be effective – in a young woman’s personal and professional socially, academically, professionally.” development, says Robert Morris University Trustee Karen Larrimer, head of retail banking Nancy Kelly ‘72 of Sarasota, Florida, recently and chief customer officer for PNC Financial signed on as a professional mentor. During her Services Group. “Mentors can support you and career as a human resources officer for a global be a voice for you at tables where you don’t insurance company, she saw firsthand how have a seat,” says Larrimer. “They important it is for women to have can introduce you to individuals role models in business. “For a from networks that otherwise while, I was the only woman at would not be accessible to you.” my level on the senior executive “ONE OF THE KEY team,” she says. “There were a lot CONCEPTS OF That’s the idea behind the of unwritten rules, and there still FEMINISM IS THAT university’s Women’s Leadership are. Change in the workplace is WOMEN SHOULD BE and Mentorship Program, a slow, and it’s still not a level PAVING THE WAY competitive four-year enrichment playing field for women. It’s FOR EACH OTHER, opportunity that prepares young important for us to help our best AND I’ VE SEEN women to become leaders in their and brightest move forward.”

WOMEN ACTUALLY careers and communities. “Each Kelly, who recently turned her DOING IT. year we admit only 23 students, focus to consulting work and IT’ S NOT JUST so it’s pretty selective,” says education, is looking forward to TEXTBOOK STUFF.” Lauren Rauscher, the program being paired with a student soon, coordinator and an assistant and encourages other professionals professor of sociology. When the to apply for the program. “We can program welcomed its first full help smooth the way for someone cohort of students in the fall of 2014, freshmen else, and likewise, we as women in business can were paired with both an upperclass student learn from the younger folks coming up.” and a faculty or staff mentor. This fall, as they begin their junior year, they will each be partnered with Professional mentors are asked to schedule four a professional mentor — “people who can share in-person meetings with their student throughout their experiences with you, lobby for you, and can one academic year, and take part in mentorship training. The commitment lasts for only one year, ultimately recommend you for jobs,” says Rauscher, who is now actively recruiting professional mentors.

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SPRING 2016

though participants can re-up the following year.

Men are encouraged to apply, Rauscher adds.

“Men hold the majority of top leadership positions within organizations, making them particularly valuable resources as mentors,” she says. “And fathers of daughters make some of the best advocates for young women.”

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“The program has really opened my eyes to what’s out there for women,” says freshman Anna Hartwell, a finance/economics major who plans eventually to practice civil or corporate law. One highlight of the her first year in WLMP: meeting author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalianborn women’s activist, at a private campus talk before her Heinz Hall appearance with RMU’s Pittsburgh Speakers Series. “I sat two seats BE A MENTOR away and got to talk to her after JOIN THE WOMEN’ S LEADERSHIP AND her lecture,” says Hartwell. “It was MENTORSHIP an incredible experience.” WLMP PROGRAM AS A encourages global learning, and PROFESSIONAL offers a study abroad stipend; MENTOR. FIND OUT Hartwell hopes to attend the HOW REWARDING IT Toulouse Business School in IS TO EMPOWER France as a junior. “My academic A PROMISING mentor (Engaged Learning FEMALE STUDENT. specialist Samantha Moik) has been very encouraging about QUESTIONS? CALL studying abroad,” says Hartwell.

ELISA FOSTER AT “I’m very excited to absorb the 412-397-4059 culture and experience a different way of life.”

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Randi Jackson, a senior about to graduate with a bachelor of science in sports psychology and a master’s in organizational leadership, says she has loved her time as a peer mentor in WLMP. “It’s cool to see women uplifting each other,” says the California native and member of RMU’s NEC championshipwinning women’s basketball team. “One of the key concepts of feminism is that women should be paving the way for each other, and I’ve seen women actually doing it.

It’s not just textbook stuff.” Jackson will soon head to the University of North Texas, where she’s been accepted into a doctoral program in counseling psychology. Being a mentor has broadened her experiences at RMU, she says. “I have a different major, as well as different hobbies and interests, from my mentee. I’ve had to reach out to people in her department — communications — and I’ve met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

Although WLMP is relatively new, it’s already becoming one of the most talked-about groups on campus. “You can definitely feel the buzz,” says Rauscher. “The program is here to stay, and with the energized, committed young students involved, it will thrive.”

SPRING 2016

President’s

INSIDER EMPOWERING WOMEN TO LEAD President Chris Howard considers each of these women to be a personal inspiration, and they all will be participants in an October 7 symposium at RMU as part of his formal inauguration.

“IT’S HARD FOR PEOPLE SOMETIMES TO IMAGINE THAT THERE’S ANOTHER WAY THAN THEY HAVE KNOWN. WHEN I WAS A CADET, I HAD INSTRUCTORS WHO BELIEVED THAT A FARMER’S DAUGHTER FROM IOWA COULD BE A RHODES SCHOLAR. ... (A MENTOR’S MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY IS) TO BE SELF-AWARE AND CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO REALIZE THAT A PERSON MAY GROW BEYOND YOU, AND BE ABLE TO REJOICE IN THAT PERSON’S SUCCESS AND ... LAUNCH THEM OUT IN WAYS THAT YOU CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE.” Lt. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson is superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and a distinguished graduate of the institution, as well as a Rhodes Scholar. She is a command pilot with more than 3,600 hours in refueling, transport, tanker, and training aircraft and has commanded at the squadron, group, and wing level and served as Air Force aide to two presidents. She was an assistant professor of political science at the academy, President Chris Howard was among her students. Prior to assuming her current role, Lt. Gen. Johnson was the deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, which controls all NATO operations worldwide.

“WHEN MENTORING, I LISTEN MORE THAN I TALK. I HEAR THE PERSPECTIVE OF ANOTHER GENERATION. IN THE COURSE OF MY WORK, ESPECIALLY WHEN DESIGNING NEW INITIATIVES, I FIND IT VERY USEFUL TO STEP INTO THAT PERSPECTIVE. THROUGH MENTORING, I HELP TO SHAPE OTHERS AND THEY HELP TO SHAPE ME.” Donna Auguste is a computer scientist and engineer and the co-founder and chief technology officer of Alpha and Omega, a small R&D company in Denver. She holds patents on a number of inventions, from wireless sensors to internet radio to remote controls for digital readers, going back to projects she developed while at Apple Computer. Auguste is the former CEO and co-founder of Freshwater Software, which sold in 2001 for $147 million. For 12 years she was the CEO and founder of the nonprofit Leave a Little Room Foundation, primarily working in developing countries. She did graduate research in artificial intelligence at CMU and is a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“BESIDES MENTORSHIP, SPONSORSHIP IS IMPORTANT — SOMEONE WILLING TO USE THEIR OWN POLITICAL CAPITAL TO HELP A PERSON ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS AND GET ADVANCEMENT. AND COACHING — HAVING BOTH THE SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL INSIGHTS ABOUT THE INSTITUTION TO KNOW WHAT CAPABILITIES ARE NEEDED FOR ADVANCEMENT.” Suzanne M. Nora Johnson is a corporate executive and former vice chair of Goldman Sachs, where she headed the investment bank’s research division. In 2006, she was named to the Forbes list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” Nora Johnson is on corporate boards of directors for AIG, Intuit, Pfizer, and Visa and is a trustee for the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Markle and Broad foundations, TechnoServe, the University of Southern California, and Women’s World Banking. She chairs the Global Agenda Council on The Future of Banking for the World Economic Forum.

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