The Xavierite
On Thursday October 8, 2015, the Graham School of Management will host speaker Ana Dutra in a presentation about mentorship. The program, entitled “The Magic of Mentorship, Giving and Receiving Feedback,” will be held in the Butler Reception Room from 11am to 1pm.
In an interview with the Xavierite via email, the Graham School of Management’s Dean, Asghar Sabbaghi Ph.D, provided some information and insight on this important speaker.
Ana Dutra, the current President and CEO of the Executives Club of Chicago, is the speaker for this presentation.
Some may remember Dutra as the keynote speaker for the Graham School commencement ceremony in May where she gave an inspiring message to the Business graduates. Dutra is business leader who has served as Global Managing Director of Accenture’s Organization Strategy practice, as well as of Mercer Management Consulting, CSC and Booz Allen.
Dutra is also the Vice Chair of the Midwest for the Committee of 200, a Board member of the International Women’s Forum, and a member of the Economic Club and the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs.
Sabbaghi first implemented this speaker series when he joined the Graham School in 2014 and they have been successful ever since.
“I initiated this Mentoring program when I joined GSM in the fall of 2014, where we divided all undergraduate business students among all full-time faculty for mentoring. We have a group of highly dedicated faculty and staff who all they could with much excitement through this mentoring program to help our students succeed. While students will be “assigned” to specific faculty mentors, we do not want to discourage students from seeking contact and advice from any other faculty or professional staff. During that fall 2014, we started the program and the keynote speaker at the time was Billy Dexter, a partner at Heidrick & Struggles and a member of the Global Diversity Advisory Services practice,” said Sabbaghi
He believes that these presentations help interested students succeed. At this particular presentation, students will be able to hear the story of a person who was just like them. Dutra has the ability to positively influence students to be the best they can be when it comes to their academics and their career.
“This presentation set up the stage for a Mentoring initiative that would help our Graham School students to succeed, and it is important for students attend this event. This Mentoring is based on the notion that “Faculty-student interaction” is foremost among the well-known “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” It is a great start to the beginning of the school year and students’ academic journey. These mentoring program would help students regarding future career exploration, students’ concentrations and courses, and career-related issues, and experiential and co-curricular activities. This is a learning experience for our students and their path towards graduation,” said Sabbaghi.
Dean Sabbaghi encourages students to listen to many speakers while they are still at the university. These speakers, and this presentation in particular, are a great way to receive mentorship and support throughout their academic decisions. It is beneficial for students to listen and learn from someone who they can relate to.
“It is significant that Graham School students listen to someone like Ana who has been in the same shoes and has become a successful business leader through a mentoring process. This is an opportunity for Ana to share her success story with our young business students and lead them in the right path. As a Hispanic woman, she has gone through the same challenges and gained so much valuable experiences to share with our students. Students will be given the great gift of advice by a successful CEO,” said Sabbaghi.
If a student is interested in attending a presentation from the Graham School, but they are unable to attend this presentation, Sabbaghi explains that there are many other opportunities for students to do so. The speaker series emphasizing mentoring takes place each semester and various business organizations welcome speakers throughout the year.
“Our Speaker Series Mentoring Events take place each semester. Last year we had them in October (Fall) and February (Spring) and we plan to do the same each semester. It’s important that we give the students a chance to experience something like this and learn from it. Besides our Mentoring Events, the Graham School and its Student Organizations bring in a number of different business community speakers throughout the year at events. The FMA (Financial Management Association) had a guest speaker from CVS in September and the Women Entering Business student organization plans to have a guest speaker from Deloitte come this month,” said Sabbaghi.
Ultimately, each event and presentation that the Graham School hosts is for the benefit of its students. The creators of the events hope that students take away important values and life advice, which will help them throughout their careers.
Dean Sabbaghi expands upon this idea and hopes that students attend as many Graham School events that they can.
“We are looking forward to building up a successful path for our Graham School students, particularly freshman/sophomore through learning more about the support services they have, and the opportunities for success in their education and their career. We are also looking forward to giving the students the chance to meet with their mentors/advisors and start off their academic career in the right direction. The keynote speech and the faculty mentoring will provide a roadmap to our students for success. In the past, we have had great turnouts from our student body and faculty and we hope to have to same results this year,” said Sabbaghi.
Sabbaghi and other faculty at the Graham School of Mangement are hopeful that many students come out to this presentation and many others that they have planned for this semester and future semesters.
Even students who are not business majors can attend the events held by the Graham School. Many majors will deal with aspects and people of the business world. Attending these presentations will be beneficial to those who choose to learn about the speakers and their stories.
“We hope that our students get some insight from Ana about their determination for their education and building up their future career from now. In the past, we have many positive reflections from students who have participated in such events and we hope that they will take full advantage of this innovative mentoring event and inspired to building up their educational and career path,” said Sabbaghi.
Julie Gardner
Senior News Editor
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