The Career Development Center and Office of Student Inclusion presented “CONNECTED: Providing Career Opportunities Through Diversity & Inclusion,” a networking and career day event for high school students and parents in the area, ASU students, local employers and community leaders on April 14.

One event during the day was the diversity panel featuring local leaders.

U’Meeka Smith, assistant director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the city of Huntsville, moderated the panel discussing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and practices in today’s hiring environment.

The panel included Ashley Brown, senior manager of manufacturing operations at Boeing; Gabby Ellis, HR manager at Madison Hospital; Kendal Cunningham, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command integration chief; Kamilah Smith, senior manager at Deloitte Services;Alexis Sumner, administrative specialist at the FBI of Birmingham; Randy Shearouse, Limestone County Schools superintendent and Sgt. Jami Jones with the Decatur police.

The panelists spoke to students regarding their respective organizations and hiring practices for their fields.

Decatur Police expressed a desire to recruit individuals committed to service.

“We take great pride In being a department that is representative of our community. We’re enriched by the diversity of our staff. We hope students became motivated to join our team after learning how the department strives to continue to grow. Our mission is to protect and serve all citizens of Decatur, and we aim to recruit individuals who are interested in answering the call to service,” said Irene Cardenas-Martinez, public information liasion at Decatur police.

Boeing emphasized the importance of diverse hiring practices.

“Boeing welcomed the opportunity to participate in the diversity panel and sponsor the CONNECTED event. Building a diverse pipeline is one of our most important priorities as an industry and company. Improving representation and inclusion in our organization and industry — particularly in STEM careers — is an area where we are paying particularly close attention. As a company, we’re focused on finding, hiring, promoting and retaining diverse talent,” said a spokesperson with Boeing.

Limestone County Schools welcome opportunities to strengthen their partnership with ASU and to share recruitment opportunities with prospective future employees.

“This was an opportunity to continue strengthening our partnership with Athens State. The event allowed us an opportunity to join other panelists and share information with students about recruitment efforts as well as key interview information,” said Dr. Randy Shearouse, Limestone County Schools superintendent.

Like Boeing, the FBI expressed a desire to build a diversified and inclusive workforce.

“The FBI was pleased to be part of today’s diversity panel at Athens State University, and we hope Ms. Sumner’s participation helped the students better understand the FBI’s efforts to build a diverse and inclusive workforce. As the FBI works to fill special agent vacancies and other positions, our goal is to build an agency that is more inclusive and better representative of the people we protect,” said Paul Daymond with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Birmingham.

Madison Hospital stated it is always open to attending recruiting events to display employment opportunities and that doing so is important with the staffing challenges that impact the healthcare industry.

“Since opening 10 years ago, Madison Hospital has worked to cultivate relationships with colleges and universities across Alabama that are training the next generation of health care professionals. Our HR team loves being invited to on-campus hiring fairs and other events, because it gives us a chance to meet with students in person and talk about the amazing career opportunities available at Madison Hospital. Attending these events has become even more important with the staffing challenges affecting the entire health care industry,” said Mary Lynne Wright, president of Madison Hospital.

This event brought a diversified body of panelists to give attendees an exclusive opportunity to learn about local and regional employers and the initiative each one has for diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring practices.

Throughout the day, attendees had numerous opportunities to connect with these employers and others.