Leung to lead meeting of fraternity/sorority advisors
A William & Mary staff member will head the largest meeting of fraternity and sorority advisors in the country this winter.
Jennifer Leung, assistant director of student activities, has been selected as 2011 Annual Meeting Chair for the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors.
“As the birth place of fraternities (with the founding of Phi Beta Kappa), W&M has a demonstrated and long-standing commitment to the fraternal experience,” said Anne Arseneau, associate director of student activities. “That commitment isn’t just insular to good experiences for W&M undergraduates. W&M staff members, involved on the international level, contribute to the long-term success and opportunities for fraternities and sororities to continue to offer positive, values-based experiences to members.”
As the meeting chair, Leung oversees the Annual Meeting Planning Team, which is comprised of about 25 volunteers from across the country.
“These volunteers will coordinate many aspects of the four-day meeting, including but not limited to the educational programs, fireside chats, a service project and the speakers showcase,” Leung said. “We assess current programs and initiatives, seeking opportunities for enhancement and improvement.”
Leung will also write and edit publications that will be used by committees and meeting attendees.
“There are several processes in which proposals or applications are reviewed, and though they are coordinated by members of the committees, I will be very engaged in those processes: reading the proposals/applications, providing feedback, and participating in the decision making process,” she said.
Because the association is primarily volunteer-driven, Leung will also work to create “an engaging and rewarding volunteer experience for the members of the Annual Meeting Planning Team.”
“This can take the form of providing timely and constructive feedback or serving as a liaison between the volunteers and the central office staff,” she said.
Leung was appointed to the position of incoming chair in 2009, and she spent 2010 “shadowing” the current meeting chair. In prior years, Leung has served in several other positions on the meeting’s planning team.
“Those many years of volunteering are now coming together as I will oversee the entire team in my role as chair,” she said.
Volunteering for professional associations is a good way for people to advance their careers, said Leung.
“It provides opportunities to hone skill sets that may not always be utilized in day to day work as well as providing an opportunity to expand a network of colleagues,” she said. “I have met so many wonderful professionals in the field through my volunteer roles, and I call upon them on a daily basis to share ideas or resources.”
While volunteering with the association benefits Leung’s career, it also benefits the College because she is learning skills that she can put to use in her job here, where she serves as the primary advisor to the fraternity community and the inter-fraternity council and coordinates leadership programs such as TRAIN leadership, LEAP, the Student Leadership Foundation and the Women’s Leadership Program.
“This particular volunteer position for Jen is a significant one within our association,” said Arseneau. “It will undoubtedly provide her with great experience planning a large -scale conference, supervising and managing conference volunteers, coordinating and networking (in this planning) with other professionals, and ultimately, highlighting W&M’s good name as involved and committed professionals and colleagues (to the nearly 1000 attendees) at the annual meeting.”
Leung said she is looking forward to providing “an engaging and impactful experience for attendees and members of the association.”
“The fraternal movement is something that I very much believe in, and this is my way of contributing to it,” she said. “I’m looking forward to using my interests and skills in event planning and management to provide annual meeting attendees the opportunity to learn, collaborate, and engage in forward moving and purposeful conversation.
“The Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors is an organization that I have benefitted from immensely, and I’m just looking forward to giving back to that organization, as well as the mentors and colleagues from whom I have learned so much,” she said.
