9:25 am – 5:00 pm

Marian University is hosting a gathering of Marian faculty, staff, students and alumni during Homecoming Week, along with leaders from the local community and the general public for an opportunity to discuss issues surrounding higher education and career development.

Session 1 – (9:25 am -10:30 am)
The Brain Drain in Wisconsin: How to Keep Talent from Leaving the State
Kate Candee
When educated or highly-skilled people leave our state, it hurts.  This panel will examine how the outflow of people, particularly those with advanced skills and/or education, affects the economy and culture of Wisconsin.  The discussion will include the effect of the brain drain on job opportunities and the impact on the tax base, as well as solutions to stem the tide of outflow.  Panelists will include representatives from academia, industry and government, as well as representatives from the communities most affected by the brain drain.  The goal is to generate an open dialogue that leads to actionable solutions to retain talent locally and in our state.

Session 2 – (10:40 am –11:45 am)
Bridging the Generation Gap in the Workplace
Callista Gould
There are as many as four generations working together in today’s workplace.  They think differently, they communicate differently and have different expectations of what their work should be.  How can we all get along?  In this session, our speaker and panel will tackle issues such as effective leadership, communication, productivity, recruiting and retention.

Featured Speaker: Thomas Boyer, Ph.D. Leadership Studies, who just graduated from Marian University in May, will present on his dissertation: “The Effect of Authentic Leadership on the Retention of a Multigenerational Workforce.”

Break: 11:45 am – 12:15 pm

Session 3 – (12:15 pm – 1:30 pm)
ChatGPT – The Implications for Business and Education
Jim Gray and Johanna Groene
It’s banned in some places.  But can it be a force for good?  This panel will define and discuss ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer), a chatbot that uses Artificial Intelligence to generate content.  Panelists will consider uses for ChatGPT in Business and Education, ranging from producing “human-like” responses from customer inquiries through life chat integration, to copy for websites, emails, flyers or similar visual advertising or electronic marketing media.  Discussions will address the effective use of ChatGPT question phrasing as well as the pitfalls, and how to distinguish between accurate facts and reliable research vs. content that has incorporated misleading information.

Session 4 – (1:40 pm –2:50 pm)
Engaging in Career Conversations
Jessica Little, Terri Passow and Therese Gedemer
How do we get university students more involved in our community?  In this workshop, businesses in the community will give short presentations on their business’ impact on the community and opportunities for students. Then we’ll move to a roundtable format, where students will have an opportunity to engage with businesses (including other panel members from previous sections).  There will be time limits, so students have an opportunity to have face-to-face conversations with the businesses, alumni and other speakers from the day.

Reception – (3:00-5:00)
Time to converse about the topics, network and connect!