Finding Meaning at AHRD in Louisville

Last week was the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) International Conference in the Americas in Louisville, KY. What a great conference! I’m so thankful for our warm and rigor-focused community in the Academy. This was my 4th AHRD conference in the Americas but it was my first time attending as a full-time faculty member at LSU, which gave it a different flavor. Colleagues from different universities around the world are quickly becoming friends.

I had three presentations this year:

1. PAPER: Crocco, O. S., & Cseh, M. (2019). Learning, development, and change in a community-based enterprise in Myanmar: Implications for human resource development. 
2. POSTER: Cseh, M., Crocco, O. S., & Safarli, C. (2019). Global human resource development informed by indigenous knowledge and research.
3. PANEL: Cseh, M. Bartlett, K., Crocco, O. S., McLean, G., Russ-Eft, D., & Wang, J. (2019). Preparing HRD professionals for the global workplace: A holistic learning and development approach.

I also participated in several service opportunities like being a session host and appearing on a panel for the Graduate Student Research Colloquium. This year I became the Chair of the Leadership SIG as well. On Friday night the Leadership SIG had a fun night out with a small contingent of our 160+ total SIG members. I’m glad that our SIG is not just a place where we connect around our shared interest in leadership but also where we can grow as a community over food and drinks.

Representing LSU and the School of Leadership and Human Resource Development along with my colleagues Dr. Sunyoung Park and Dr. Shinhee Jeong added meaning to the conference as well. Both Dr. Park and Dr. Jeong were recognized for awards at the conference, and I believe we as a school are poised to make a big impact in the Academy and our field as a whole. Two of our graduate students (Susan Karimiha and Matthew Kingham) also attended and gave fantastic presentations. I’d like a larger group of LSU graduate students to attend in the future year. It’s such an important experience for our graduate students. We’re working on creating funding opportunities for our students at the department level to help more attend next year.

Being a part of the Academy is more than just sharing research and connecting with colleagues. It’s a synergistic community of courageous minds looking to promote scholarship and practice that honors the human spirit. I’m looking forward to the UFHRD conference in Nottingham in June but until then my heart and mind are full.