Elizabethtown College students enrolled in the BA 370 Strategic Human Resources course this spring have been afforded the opportunity to interview and learn first-hand from global leaders in the human resources field.
The course’s objective is for students to better understand the strategic role that human resources plays in delivering an organization’s strategy.
Etown Adjunct Instructor of Human Resources Beverley Doody has helped demonstrate that through her own experience of delivering business solutions across the world. Doody has also leveraged the professional network that she developed during her 35 years in the industry to provide her class with unique networking opportunities.
Throughout the semester, Doody brought in senior business leaders to speak with the class, while also connecting students with former colleagues from around the world to interview for an assignment.
Ellen Romano, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Armstrong World Industries, Inc., served as a guest speaker on March 22, while Linda Toth, Principal at RCE Services, LLC in Lancaster taught a class on ethics, compliance, and corporate social responsibility on April 19.
“I have been thrilled that my former colleagues (and now friends) have jumped in to help the College out by agreeing to give up their time to be interviewed by our students,” said Doody. “Everyone I asked to participate felt it was an honor to be a part of this work and ‘give back’ to the students, many stating that they wished they had had this type of opportunity in their earlier days.”
In addition to Romano and Toth, a total of 16 senior HR leaders from countries such as Australia, China, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland agreed to take part in the project to share their real-world experiences.
Cassidy Dunn ‘22 received a better understanding of how her major, Business Data Science, is being used in the human resources field by interviewing Makeda Brown, the founder and principal consultant of PVR Coaching and Consulting.
“Makeda shared that without data her role would not be the same,” said Dunn. “It was encouraging as a student studying data science to see how data is used in other areas and how it makes such a big impact.”
Anmei Cao ‘21, an International Business – Management major, interviewed Maggie Shen, a Senior HR Manager at Armstrong World Industries (China).
“This project gave me a chance to substantiate what we learned in the course,” said Cao. “As students, learning from the experience of experts in the field can help us adapt to real-world environments more quickly.”