New Leadership Program Offered by Buccino Institute and CEPS

Staysha Taylor
Buccino Leadership Institute

What do you get when you take the best leadership content from Seton Hall’s award-winning Buccino Leadership Institute and combine it with cutting-edge professional development skills from industry leaders?

You get Leadership and Professional Development 101, a first-of-its-kind, certificate-bearing program offered by the Buccino Leadership Institute and the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (CEPS).

This 10-week program is guaranteed to identify your strengths, build your confidence, and learn valuable interviewing, networking, and advancement strategies to take your career to the next level.

Attendees will experience a highly interactive mix of live online and in-person sessions on Seton Hall’s South Orange campus Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. starting September 22 and ending December 9.

Teaching the class are a trio of instructors, Bryan Price, Ph.D., Michael Gordon, Esq. ’06/J.D. ’09, and Joe Testa ’12.

Price is the Executive Director of the Buccino Leadership Institute, and the founder of Top Mental Game, where he provides mental performance coaching to elite athletes and business leaders.

Last Fall, Price taught a course called LEAD 5000: Leading Yourself, which was open to anyone at Seton Hall. Over 300 students, faculty, staff, and administrators enrolled in the course, including Gordon and Testa.

Gordon is a practicing corporate and regulatory attorney at an industry-leading Fortune 500 company and an Adjunct Professor of Business Law within Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business. Gordon also serves as a Bar Examiner for the NJ State Board of Bar Examiners and is a two-time graduate of Seton Hall (undergrad and Seton Hall Law).

Testa works for a Fortune 500 company, helping to deliver world-class client service for growing e-commerce, digital payroll offerings. Like Gordon, Testa is a proud Seton Hall alumnus. He has served as the Co-President of Seton Hall’s Young Alumni Club and was a two-time member of Seton Hall’s Alumni Board of Directors. Testa is currently an active Pirate Mentor for the Sophomore Mentoring Program and assists with Stillman’s sophomore and senior assessments.

Karen Passaro, J.D., dean of Seton Hall’s Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies, also participated in Price’s LEAD 5000 course and was excited to offer this program to professionals outside of Seton Hall through the CEPS platform. “In my 20-plus years at Seton Hall, we’ve never offered such an excellent opportunity for developing professionals,” she said.

Dean Passaro also confirmed that this program is eligible for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and SHRM-approved Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for professionals looking to maintain or pursue various professional licenses or certifications, which are often paid in part or in full by employers.

Price said the success of the class he offered last year served as the impetus to offer this new opportunity. “I was amazed at the positive feedback LEAD 5000 received last year and proud of the numerous requests to do it again,” Price said. “When Michael [Gordon] and Joe [Testa] reached out to collaborate on a course that combined the best of LEAD 5000 with relevant skills that young professionals desperately need to excel in today’s workforce, I got really excited.”

“I like to say this is the college course you wish you would’ve taken, but it was never offered,” Price added. “Well, it’s offered now.”

Gordon believes now is such an important time for young professionals to acquire critical skills. “Leadership, confidence, professional etiquette and self-awareness are skills that have always been important for a successful career, but now, more than ever, these skills are necessary as the world returns to a sense of normalcy and the pool of talented candidates gets larger and larger.”

“Our goal is to help professionals stand out amongst the crowd, make a lasting impression in the office, and maximize their success in this post-COVID economy, all while having fun and making lifelong professional connections.”

As part of the curriculum, Price, Gordon and Testa described the value that attendees will receive, including:

• Taking the Eq-i 2.0, the industry’s leading assessment for emotional intelligence
• Taking the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment to identify top strengths
• Participating in advanced resume workshops
• Learning and practicing In-person and virtual networking strategies
• Conducting mock interviews and interviewing techniques
• Receiving a social media audit and learning lessons to grow one’s professional brand
• Attending a goal-setting workshop and understanding how to overcome self-imposed limitations
• Receiving an official “Certificate in Leadership and Professional Development” from the Buccino Leadership Institute

One of the most unique facets of the program is that it’s taught by not one, but three engaging instructors with vast professional experience in business, law, sports and the military.

But for Testa, the call to help others in professional development was personal. “My father struggled to find a job after being let go from his former employer during the pandemic. I started to think, ‘How can I help my father and others with the necessary professional skills to re-enter the workplace?’ ”

What’s more, thanks to Senior Associate Athletics Director Jay Judge and an exciting partnership with Pirate Blue, the program will culminate in an exclusive networking event with top industry professionals at a Seton Hall men’s basketball game at the Prudential Center on Thursday, December 9 (date subject to change based on the upcoming schedule). Attendees will be able to apply many of the communication and networking skills they’ll learn throughout the course in a fun, informal setting with esteemed business leaders.

Thanks to being on the CEPS platform, this program makes the best of the Buccino Leadership Institute available to professionals inside and outside of the Seton Hall community.

In an interview with the Stillman Exchange, Joe commented, “It’s invaluable stuff we are bringing to students and young professionals. Countless students don’t know what direction they want to go. This program, from the beginning, helps students to set goals and create career aspirations.” Additionally, participants receive the experience of three professors who each bring a different array of talents and skills to the course.

The standard rate for professionals outside of Seton Hall is $999 and includes the opportunity to earn CEUs and SHRM-approved PDCs. The cost for graduate students (from any school) is $799, and for undergraduates (from any school) is $599.

Seton Hall alumni receive a 10% discount and for further discounts, email CESP@shu.edu. Discounted group rates for companies sending multiple employees are also available. To learn more about this program, watch the promotional video, and to register, click here.

 

For any additional information, please visit the Leadership and Professional Development 101 page or contact CEPS@shu.edu. Additionally, you can contact Bryan, Michael, or Joe through LinkedIn.