Global scholar and consultant on the science of maximizing human potential is inaugural speaker

Niagara University’s NU@822 is launching its community lecture series on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022, with a presentation by Laura Morgan Roberts, Ph.D., professor of practice at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and CEO and founder of the Alignment Quest Enterprise. Dr. Roberts will lead a discussion on the seven conversations that fuel positive community transformation and ways to affirm differences by investing in practices that harness the power of equity and inclusion. The event will be held at NU@822, 822 Cleveland Ave., Niagara Falls, N.Y., 14305. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation, which is free and open to the public, begins at 6 p.m.

Dr. Roberts is an organizational psychologist who cultivates strength-based practices with current and aspiring leaders seeking extraordinary performance and personal fulfillment in diverse organizations. She has published more than 50 research articles, teaching cases, and practitioner-oriented tools for strategically activating best selves through strength-based development, and edited three books. Her influential publications on diversity, authenticity, and leadership development have been featured in Harvard Business Review and several other global media outlets.

Dr. Roberts earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Virginia, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan. She has served on the faculties of Harvard Business School, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, and Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change, and also taught organizational behavior, psychology, negotiations, group dynamics, diversity, leadership and career development at the University of Michigan, the Wharton School of Finance, Tuck, Georgia State University, UCLA Anderson, Simmons School of Management, and AVT (Copenhagen).

The next presenter in the series, Keith Caldwell, executive director of place-based initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh, is scheduled to speak on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, at 6 p.m.

The speaker series is sponsored by Niagara University’s Levesque Institute for Civic Engagement and the John R. Oishei Foundation in collaboration with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at NU. For more information, contact Dr. Karen Kwandrans, associate vice president for Strategic & External Relations, at 716-286-8559.