Colorado State Presents Third Annual Professional Development Workshop for Women, Minorities in Engineering, Business, Sciences

Colorado State University presented its third annual professional development workshop Feb. 26. About 120 women and minority sophomores, juniors and seniors joined corporate supporters in a daylong session designed to enhance students’ professional development skills.

Participating businesses included Agilent Technologies, Anderson Consulting, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Lockheed Martin, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, State Farm Insurance, Sun Microsystems, US West, Volt Services Group and Woodward.

Each business contributed toward the event, with Kodak supplying $3,000 and Lockheed Martin providing $1,000.

"The companies represented at the Professional Development Workshop are proving to Colorado State and the country their dedication to increasing diversity within the workforce," said Benita Phillips, director of the university’s Women and Minorities in Engineering Program. "These companies are taking the initiative by developing diversity recruitment plans in response to the expected increase in the number of women and minorities in the business and technical workforce."

Teresa Kostenbauer, a job development specialist with Colorado State’s Career Center, said, "Companies really want to develop relationships and work with our students to help them join the corporation in areas where they’re underrepresented. For students, it’s an opportunity to learn about more than getting a job-it’s a chance to learn about a career."

Coached by corporate mentors from each company, student teams participated in five competitive professional development events. Presentations on researching a company, resume writing, composing a cover letter, acquiring presentation skills and corporate culture were made by corporate officials, some of whom also judged the competitive events.

Students came from the College of Engineering, College of Natural Sciences and College of Business. Colorado State’s Career Center also supported the on-campus event.