North Central Campus Business Leadership Club Earns Society for Human Resource Management Merit Award

puw-shrmThe Purdue University Northwest student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) at the North Central Campus has received the 2015-16 Student Chapter Merit Award designation from the Society for Human Resource Management for providing exceptional growth and development opportunities to its members.

The SHRM student chapter merit award program began in 1972 to encourage ongoing excellence in requirements, operations, programming and professional development of members; support of the human resource profession; and SHRM engagement. SHRM represents more than 275,000 professional and 20,000 student members in some 160 countries.

“These chapters represent the future of the HR profession,” said Susan Post, east divisional director of SHRM and lead for SHRM Student Programs. “Their achievements go above and beyond their everyday academic and work commitments, and we applaud the positive impact their efforts have on their schools, their local communities and beyond.”

The Business Leadership Club
The North Central Campus SHRM chapter is known as the Business Leadership Club. During the 2015-16 academic year, students initiated various projects that promoted student professionalism. Students also volunteered their service and expertise to the university and Northwest Indiana communities.

Guest speakers at the club’s monthly programs included local business representatives from Standard Trust Bank, The TLC Companies and Kelly Service Inc., who shared their insights into the importance of presenting a professional image; intercultural communications; recruiting, interviewing and hiring; and trends, issues and challenges in Human Resources.

Additionally, the chapter hosted an annual networking etiquette dinner so that attendees could learn more about how to interact with the business situations they may encounter.

Members also volunteered to help with Northwest Indiana SHRM meetings and conferences, the veterans’ employment program, area Junior Achievement events and career fairs. They collaborated in an environmental sustainability project with Pines Village Retirement Community, in Valparaiso, to collect bottle caps for recycling into a bench.

For further information
To obtain further information about the North Central SHRM chapter, contact president Keenan J. Scutchfield at kscutch@pnw.edu  or SHRM Chapter Advisor Anne Christo-Baker, associate professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership, at ehchrist@pnw.edu