ULM hosted its 20th Anniversary Edition of the College of Business and Social Sciences Symposium last week with many keynote speakers, educational sessions and competitions. The symposium’s theme this year was “Celebrating Our Past, Creating the Future.”
CBSS embraced this by hosting speakers from past events, young professionals currently improving the industry and even a futurist exploring the ideas of business in the future.
A keynote speaker kicked off the week-long symposium on Tuesday night featuring Cynthia Cooper, one of Time Magazine’s People of the Year and former Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom.
She spoke about performing a secret investigation with a group of auditors to uncover the fraudulent activities of her employer. Despite knowing that she would lose her job in the process, she served as a whistleblower and turned in the incriminating information that put WorldCom out of business.
Cooper explained that sometimes the right thing isn’t the thing that is going to feel the easiest or the thing that will have the best outcome for yourself.
Students who attended her session received a signed copy of her book and some even had the chance to ask her questions.
Another event that took place during the week was the Symposium Brain Bowl. This Jeopardy-style game featured teams from many different departments of business and social science competing in rounds to reach the championship.
Eight teams answered questions about business, history, pop culture and many more categories before time ran out.
In the end, the Marketing Club team took home the championship trophy, with each member winning $750 and a trophy each.
The Marketing Program also received $350 to go toward their department. The Ledger Legends were the runners-up and received a medal and $300 each.
“This was such an amazing, well-needed experience,” Brain Bowl winner Kiauna Rollins said. “It was definitely a great accomplishment for the marketing department and for me personally before graduating.”
On Thursday, the CBSS held many speaker sessions throughout the day at the Hangar for attending students and faculty. One of the mid-morning sessions called “The Future of Monroe” was delivered by Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis.
Ellis discussed the vision that he and his team have for the city, and how they plan to achieve it through cultural development, projects and establishing identity. He explained that Monroe has yet to grasp a heavy sense of self-identity and the city has a beautiful culture that needs to be recognized.
He also talked about his growth within the community and why ULM is so important to him.
“ULM holds a special place in my heart,” Ellis said. “This is the place where the next generation can come to build their futures, grow their careers and make their connections just like I was able to do.”
Later in the day, Pat Owen of the Owen Corporation hosted a session called “Have Grit, Think Critically, Plan Ahead – Be Remarkable.”
In his speech, Owen discussed what it means to be truly remarkable. He said it is more remarkable to have grit and perseverance than it is to simply have natural-born talent with no motivation.
Being passionate about something, and not seeing failure as a permanent condition is what allows those with true grit to succeed.
Owen also said that talent earned with grit is often more impressive than raw talent and that it’s important to remember to run the marathon, not the sprint.
ULM CBSS has given many opportunities to its students. From networking and educational events to competitions and speakers, the CBSS Symposium has allowed students to learn and grow in their field.
