Sorority Provides Training for Emerging Leaders

Tyson Foods and AKA partner for weeklong event

For the sixth consecutive year, Tyson Foods sponsored Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Leadership Fellows Program. Held at Tyson’s corporate headquarters in Springdale, AR, this weeklong event was attended by over 30 undergraduates who were hailed as “some of America’s best and brightest minority female college students.”

International President Barbara A. McKinzie and Audrey Cooper-Stanton, chairman of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Leadership Fellows Committee, were among the AKA officials whose participation factored in the success of the event. Cathy Clark-Johnson, vice president of Employment Compliance for Tyson Foods and a member of AKA, was instrumental in facilitating the partnership between the two entities.

In citing the benefits of the partnership with Tyson Foods, McKinzie said, "By collaborating with Tyson we are providing additional skills and experiences for undergraduates that we believe will help them succeed in the workplace. We believe our relationship will also ultimately help diversify the company's workforce."

Stanton-Cooper concurred and declared, “Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Leadership Fellows Program has produced some of the nation’s most accomplished leaders. The intensive training and exposure provided by Tyson have been valuable in giving these young people the tools, knowledge and wisdom that will prepare them to be tomorrow’s leaders.”

Click here for a more complete account of this dynamic program, which has become one of AKA’s signature initiatives for cultivating future leaders. A comprehensive story on the 2007 Leadership Fellows Program, complete with photos, will be in an upcoming edition of the Ivy Leaf publication.