NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010 - 33

By Ronesha Dennis
the WhoLe mission
“We made sure that every month we hit one aspect of the National Directives, in addition to the special programs that we were doing,” says Morris. At the beginning of the year, the chapter had retained 43 percent of its membership, and several members renewed later in the year. UF-NSBE also opened a Technical OutReach Community Help (T.O.R.C.H.) Center for elementary school students and held its Fourth Annual “A Walk for Education” and a Try-Math-A-Lon Competition for NSBE Jr. members. To Williams, however, there were parts of NSBE’s mission that the chapter neglected. “…Our mission is ‘to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who (excel academically,) succeed professionally and positively impact the community,’ ” Williams says. “I was like, ‘Why isn’t anybody targeting the culturally responsible part?’ ”

hree years ago, the University of Florida reigned supreme in the competition for bragging rights as NSBE’s best collegiate chapter: Distinguished Chapter of the Year. But after the 2006–07 school year ended, it wasn’t more recognition for their chapter’s accomplishments that UF–NSBE members were seeking. They felt they needed to do more, and they wanted to do better. From the time she took the job of managing the UF–NSBE Executive Board as vice president in 2008, and throughout her tenure as chapter president in 2009–10, Jelece Morris wanted to help build a legacy, one created by dedicated leaders looking not only to build a successful NSBE chapter by national standards but to grow a chapter they could proudly call their own. “We did something (last) year called ‘L.E.A.D.’ It’s an acronym that stands for ‘Leaders Excelling and Developing,’ ” says current UF–NSBE President Robert Williams. And with L.E.A.D. came new success, greater potential and another accomplishment: another reign as Distinguished Chapter of the Year.

Leadership deveLopment
Before beginning the 2009 school year, NSBE’s UF Chapter Executive Board took a survey that asked a hard question: “What are your weaker areas?” Former president Morris, a computer engineering major who came to UF with enough credits to be a junior, was eager to know what the board needed help with and what she could do. The survey yielded responses on a wide range of topics, from time management and communication to teamwork. According to Morris, leadership development was something UF–NSBE always talked about but didn’t “really act (on) as much as we should, because there (have) always been (gaps caused by) people not stepping up to leadership positions.” Morris compiled the survey responses and created L.E.A.D., a workshop that sought to put the UF–NSBE Executive Board back in the front seat of its chapter. “…There were training sessions for the executive board, where we learned about different leadership skills and how to perform well in a business environment,” says Williams, who took part in the program while he served as the UF publications chair. Morris says the purpose of the program was “to bring together all the (veteran) executive board (members), new executive board members and people who wanted to step up into NSBE leadership, and teach them the fundamentals,” skills they could use whether they were leaders in NSBE or elsewhere. Along with L.E.A.D., UF–NSBE also launched “Leaders Building Leaders,” an initiative that allowed general body members to shadow current Chapter Executive Board members and prepare themselves to step into leadership positions in the future. According to NSBE Executive Director Carl B. Mack, it’s this dedication to creating leaders that helped UF–NSBE gain the title Distinguished Chapter of the Year. “It makes sense that they’re so good. I guarantee if you take a look at most chapters that are absolutely excellent one year but fall off the next, it’s because of leadership,” Mack says. “The key to them is they have a foundation of excellent leadership.”
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With hopes of lowering the high percentage of AfricanAmerican fathers who are absent from their children’s lives, UF–NSBE partnered with several of the fraternities on the University of Florida’s campus to host “Fatherhood: The Absence of the Black Male Figure,” the first of their two cultural responsibility forums for the year. “We were trying to address the issue of why it is that black males aren’t the figures that they used to be,” says Morris. The chapter gathered statistics on black males and fatherhood and hosted the open forum and panel discussion with prominent African-American studies professors on campus. The program had more than 100 attendees and boosted the reputation of UF– NSBE. Attendance at the group’s meetings soared.

members of Uf–nsBe and the eastside high school nsBe Jr. Chapter supported nsBe– University of Central florida’s “a Walk for education” event in orlando, fla., march 2010

a team effort
The University of Florida wouldn’t have been named Distinguished Chapter of the Year without its dedicated board, say Morris and Williams. “Last year and the year before — even though Continued on page 34
nsbe magazine • fall

2010 • 33

NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010