Student leaders from all eight Ivy League institutions gathered on campus this weekend to share ideas for improving their universities’ student governments at the 14th annual Ivy Leadership Summit.
The two-day conference, which focused on a theme of “The Digital Future,” featured addresses by Betsy Hoover, online organizing director for President Obama’s 2012 campaign, and the University’s chief information officer, Ravi Pendse.
One hundred twenty-five students representing the Ivies attended the conference, in addition to 10 delegates from Chinese universities. The Ivy Council has had an international partnership with the All-China Students’ Federation, an organization of student leaders at Chinese higher education institutions, since 2008.
“There was a lot of exchange between students from different schools,” said Todd Harris ’14.5, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, calling the summit a success. “There are a few initiatives that each of the schools are working on, in terms of getting students involved and making sure that the students’ voices are being heard.”
The keynote address came from Hoover, who is currently a partner with the consulting firm 270 Strategies, leading the firm’s digital strategy practice. Hoover said she has long identified herself as an organizer, adding that she knew from a young age she wanted to change the world.
Developing a mission and vision based on core values is important to success, Hoover said. “Communication and leadership is essential, and it is important to have a clear sense of purpose” when organizing a movement, she said. Hoover provided advice to student leaders for dealing with a high-pressure workplace, especially in an increasingly digitalized era.
Hoover tied her experience working for the Obama campaign, which she called a “crazy environment,” to the challenges student organizers face.
Pendse led an interactive workshop Saturday entitled “Emerging Technologies and Leadership” that focused on effective leadership amid ongoing technological change.
“The world is in constant motion,” Pendse said, adding that collaboration among leaders fosters innovation. Pendse engaged conference attendees in a series of exercises to show the benefits of teamwork for building better leadership skills.
Leaders who invent new concepts, adopt fresh ideas and find capable partners to help execute those ideas will ameliorate the difficulties of change, Pendse said, adding that conference attendees should look to each other as resources for the future. “In this very room, you have your team,” he said.
Students who attended the Ivy Leadership Summit said they were looking forward to networking and receiving feedback from other Ivy leaders.
“The conference is a great platform to discuss new ideas, learning from different schools and dealing with the problems and issues across different campuses,” said Dhruv Goyal, a member of Harvard’s Undergraduate Council.
Ho Jun Yang ’16, an Ivy Leadership Summit event coordinator, said networking is a primary benefit for Ivy Council conferences.
Tsvetomira Dumbalska ’16 said this year’s conference was her first Ivy Council summit. “The topic of the conference seemed interesting, and the summit is a great opportunity to meet people from other schools and hear about their experiences,” she said.
The Ivy Council will host a policy conference this spring to delve into and develop solutions to the specific problems Ivies face, Harris said, the location and dates of which are yet to be determined.
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