Four Texas Wesleyan students—Nicholas Davis, Bailey Dozier, Emilia Egel, and Stuart Tennyson—participated in the 2019 Hatton W. Sumners Leadership Conference, hosted by the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin Feb. 21-23. Students were accompanied by Dr. Michelle Payne and Dr. Christopher Ohan.

The purpose of the conference is to develop the leadership potential of current undergraduate students by fulfilling three goals:

• Educating students about leadership
• Inspiring young men and women to seek or accept leadership responsibilities as part of their contribution to their society
• To develop a network of students to support future collaboration among these emerging leaders.

The conference is organized around both formal presentations by scholars and those who exercise leadership skills, and small group workshops led by public affairs graduate students from the University of Texas.

This year's speakers included noted leadership speaker Anne Grady, philosopher and pioneering business thinker Tom Morris, award-winning author and motivational speaker Seconde Nimenya, and Dr. Howard Prince II – current holder of the Loyd Hackler Endowed Chair in Ethical Leadership at UT Austin.

Topics included ethical leadership, learning through failure, and various issues related to leadership in today's professional climate. Students leave the conference with practical ideas they can use at their home institutions as well as in their future careers.

Participation at the conference is sponsored by the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation and one of the many programs offered to Hatton W. Sumners Scholarship recipients at Texas Wesleyan University. For more information about the Hatton W. Sumners Scholarship, visit txwes.edu/academics/sumners/.