International Conference Focuses on Leadership, Spirituality and Education

The Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace at the Sam M. Walton College of Business is hosting the 2017 International Association of Management, Spirituality and Religion conference May 18-20.

The conference will be held in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus.  

The theme of the conference is Leadership, Spirituality and Education. Keynote speakers include John H. Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods Inc., and pioneer in creating faith-friendly workplaces; Lee Bolman, an author, scholar, consultant, professor and Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Kathryn Pavlovich, a professor of strategy and human resource management at the University of Waikato Management School, Hamilton, New Zealand, who specializes in leader development with a focus on noetic wisdom — spirituality, reflexivity, mindfulness, empathy — for enhancing creativity, sustainable innovation and human flourishing.

"I am especially excited about our curricula track, which explores approaches and impacts of transformative teaching and learning in the classroom," said Daniel E. Harris, Tyson Center director. "Integrating spirituality into education and leadership is vital to meet the complex challenges of the 21st century business. Our panel discussions and keynote speeches focus on helping individuals to discover meaning and purpose in their everyday working lives — an important component of job satisfaction and engagement."

One of the conference panels, "Evangelical Protestantism: The Tension Between Grace and Truth," brings together leading evangelicals in business, education and religion to reflect on the tension between grace and truth in the evangelical protestant movement and in society at large. Claus Dierksmeier of the Welt Ethos Institute in Tubingen, Germany, will provide a European perspective on grace and truth in societal and inter-faith dialog.

Registration for the event is $495, which includes one breakfast, two lunches, a gala dinner at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and limited transportation between hotel and conference activities. Registration for the event is at http://bit.ly/2oEgA9C.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.