Throughout the school year, local business professionals and UD students have an opportunity to discuss such topics as global human capital and organizational learning with experts in the field--all over toast and eggs.

The Leadership Development Breakfast Series, which recently wrapped up its second year, is co-sponsored by CHEP's Department of Consumer Studies and the University's Division of Professional and Continuing Studies.

The breakfasts, held monthly between October and April, have featured such speakers as Delaware state Treasurer Jack Markell and George Washington University Prof. Margaret Gorman. Lecture topics have included Delaware's technology infrastructure and the ways companies can adapt to complex environments.

A buffet-style breakfast begins at 7 a.m., and the lecture is held from 8-8:45 a.m., with 15 minutes set aside following the talk for questions from the audience.

Karen Stein, consumer studies chairperson, says the department has become the home for UD's leadership initiatives, offering both a major and a minor focusing on leadership. Through such programs as the breakfasts, she says, the University is extending its outreach and providing a necessary service to business professionals in the area.

"The series is part of the campus commitment to extend knowledge to the community," Stein says, adding that an example of a timely topic, discussed in the March 7 lecture, is how businesses can keep their customers. The speaker for that breakfast meeting was Janet Hethorn, associate professor of consumer studies.

"Businesses today often know how to attract customers," Stein says, "but they don't always know how to keep their customers--how to be truly consumer-centric and not just pay lip service to their customers."

The breakfast series, though created for business professionals, encourages students to attend each lecture. Meetings are held at the Goodstay Center on UD's Wilmington campus. The fee is $24 per person for a single lecture or $140 for the series of six, with a discount available for nonprofit organizations and groups. For more information, call (302) 831-1171.

They also served...

 Karen Schaeffer, associate professor of fashion merchandising in CHEP's Department of Consumer Studies, arranges a display of women's World War II uniforms she assembled to illustrate the fact that women, as well as men, served their country in the U.S. military. The exhibit, "World War II--Women of Courage," featured seven local women's uniforms, representing the Navy, Marines, Waves and the Red Cross Motor Corps. The uniforms were on display during February in Alison Hall West.

--Kaytie Dowling, AS 2004