The Fogelman Women in Leadership (FWL) program was born over a decade ago out of an intentional mission to build a network of women leaders within the UofM Fogelman College of Business & Economics (FCBE).
The program expanded to include a professional track beginning in the spring of 2023 to equip working women in the community for successful careers and focus on leadership and personal development.
Dr. Kathy Tuberville, director of Fogelman Women in Leadership Programs, works with both groups to build networks of women leaders.
The Beginning: Women in Action
The student track began in 2014 and was called Women in Action. Tuberville said the program’s creation resulted from women contacting her for guidance, and a top accounting firm, BDO, reached out to partner with FBCE and Tuberville to develop women. Tuberville also saw the opportunity to incorporate philanthropic support into the initial program by having women serve others in “community action.” FWL’s current philanthropic partner is the DeNeuville Learning Center for Women.
In 2018, the program’s name was changed to Women in Leadership to align with national trends and guidance updates. The program’s evolution included updated competency changes from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) to adding leadership as a core competency requirement.
“This program helps women build self-confidence, strong self-concepts and self-image.”
According to Tuberville, “That was when the trends started identifying that women needed to be more equipped in the workforce for leadership positions, and so we wanted our students, our women students in particular, to be ready for leadership roles when they left us.”
Tuberville’s background in human resources, teaching, research and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) gave her a unique position to cultivate and equip women to be successful leaders in their industries. Tuberville is passionate about this program and about providing women with successful leadership journeys.
“Workforce training is a big piece of this,” Tuberville said. “This program also helps women build self-confidence, strong self-concepts and self-image. Women should have the confidence to interview well and feel comfortable in salary negotiations and leading key initiatives in professional settings.”
The Student Track: Building the Foundation
The student track is open to all UofM women students, regardless of major or graduate program. In the past two years, approximately 400 students have participated in this program, which includes three to four events each semester and the annual conference each spring.
These events focus on building leadership, professional growth and cultivating a personal brand. The current semester theme is “Becoming a Confident Leader,” and all semester events center around this competency.
FWL supports the women and families in the DeNeuville Learning Center with a holiday party and works with the participants to provide eligible graduates with high school equivalency and workplace training certificates to give them a competitive edge when entering the workforce.
This non-profit is for women to become more prepared to work in our community and our women students learn from the board of directors and professionals who also support the non-profit and also our student volunteers.
This year’s annual student conference will be held on Friday, March 28, and this year’s theme is “Becoming a Confident Leader.” It is free for all women students to attend and over 100 students have already registered. The conference is sponsored by C. H. Robinson and the keynote speaker is the company’s VP of Digital Brokerage, Cody Griggs. Tuberville is grateful for the continuing support of C. H. Robinson and its platform to help women develop successful leadership skills. The conference also provides students an opportunity to network with professional women from multiple organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Memphis Grizzlies, FedEx, RBG, the Memphis Business Journal and Watkins Uiberall. “The professionals serve as table mentors and will be guiding discussions about becoming empowered through developing your confidence,” Tuberville said.
The conference provides students an “opportunity for growth,” Tuberville said. “It’s a great collaboration with our partners and our professional women. We’re really trying to have a positive impact on the talent pipeline.”
The FWL program recently partnered with the Memphis Business Journal for Mentorship Monday, a national program for the newspaper with local offerings. Over 50 students registered to be mentored by professional women. Tuberville served as a mentor and has been a member of the MBJ Biz Women Council for the past two years.
The Professional Track: Skill Development and Mentorship
The FWL professional track is designed exclusively for professional women seeking leadership development for career success. This program is interactive and informative with highly relevant content needed for success in today’s workplace. It has evolved into an “outreach program for the University by helping women who are not students become better equipped for leadership roles,” Tuberville said. She added that the workplace is about 50% women and many of whom have not had leadership roles before.
“Our program is designed to help women grow professionally, and we feel like it’s a good way for them to also learn about the campus and some of our additional opportunities for grad school. We are modeling this akin to what’s happening in other universities,” Tuberville said.
This is the second year the professional track has been active on our campus and has had a variety of programs involving professional women from a wide-breadth of industries. Programming recently featured a national speaker, Dorice Horenstein whose topic embraced “Positive Intelligence” in the workplace.
The FWL’s advisory board, which comprises 15 individuals, is an asset to Tuberville and the program tracks. The board meets several times a year and receives a report from Tuberville on the events and plans for future activities. The board then discusses trends in their offices and ways the FWL tracks can provide programming to support current professional needs.
This year, the first conference for the professional track will be held on Friday, April 25, focusing on career advancement, executive presence and strategic networking. The conference keynote is Alex Smith, head of strategy and execution in the HCM Public Sector of Oracle. Smith has an economics degree from Duke University. “She’s really had a tremendous leadership journey,” Tuberville said of Smith. The conference theme is “Leadership Development in Motion: Equipping Professional Women for Success.”
The professional conference in April will also focus on negotiation skills. “We find in the research that women don’t tend to negotiate for themselves. They negotiate for their team members, for their families, for their children, but when it comes to negotiating for themselves, they often fall short. I think it’s important to think about these needed skills. This [professional conference] is really meeting an industry need for the University, and we’re really trying to be a resource for women in the 901 with this training. It’s wonderful,” Tuberville said. The speaker for the negotiations segment is Angie Davis with Baker Donelson, LLC (BD), who leads the employment and labor law division of the national law firm from the Memphis office of BD.
Providing women, whether undergraduates, graduates or professionals, with the skills to develop their voices, articulate and negotiate for their teams and themselves and provide professional and personal development for continued career growth are goals for all FWL programs. Tuberville is excited for the development and expansion of these programs in addition to those individuals who were part of the programs and serve as ambassadors now.
To learn more about the upcoming FWL student or professional conferences, visit this link.
