NC State Student SHRM Chapter Receives a Superior Merit Award

The NC State student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), based in the  NC State Poole College of Management, was awarded a 2017-2018 Superior Merit Award designation by the national SHRM organization for providing superior growth and development opportunities to its student chapter members during the past academic year.

This is the highest recognition awarded to the student chapters by the national SHRM organization and reflects the students’ commitment to providing excellent professional development opportunities for their members.

The SHRM student chapter merit award program, which began in 1972, was created to encourage ongoing excellence in the following areas: student chapter requirements, chapter operations, chapter programming and professional development of members, support of the human resource profession, and SHRM engagement.

“As we move ‘Together Forward,’ young professionals like these being honored at distinguished student chapters play a vital role in SHRM’s success,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, president and chief executive officer of SHRM. “I’m especially honored to thank this year’s award winners because they offer excellent evidence that SHRM’s future is indeed in good hands.”

SHRM student chapters have the opportunity to earn an award based on the number of activities they complete during the merit award cycle, the most recent one of which lasted from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018.

During the 2017-2018 school year, the NC State SHRM chapter grew its membership by hosting a variety of informative chapter meetings each month, focusing on topics ranging from HR specialization to career development and personal branding, said Emily Allen, who served as vice president of administration this past year. The NC State chapter has qualified for the recognition more than a dozen times in the past two decades.

They also shared their knowledge with fellow students by collaborating with the NC State Public Relations Student Society of America for a session of mock interviews and by providing resume reviews prior to the college’s fall 2017 career fair.

Industry Engagement

Networking with local human resources professionals at the monthly chapter meetings of the Raleigh-Wake Human Resources Society (RWHRMA) was an asset for the student members, as was connecting with alumni at their annual alumni social held at the Talley Student Center. A silent auction at that event raised $370 for Duke Children’s Hospital.

SHRM members also benefited from site visits, including one to the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC), on NC State’s Centennial Campus, and attendance at RWHRMA meetings.

“Overall, SHRM has experienced an amazing year,” Allen said. “We achieved all of our goals and helped raise money for a great cause. We look forward to continuing our progress during the next school year and becoming more involved with the Triangle Industry Liaison Group (TILG),” in addition to RWHRMA.

Lea Rutter, a December 2017 Poole College graduate who served as co-president of the NC State SHRM chapter’s fall 2017 board, gave a shout-out to the student organization’s leadership team in a post on her LinkedIn account.

“Many people were key players in this honor, including current co-presidents Grayson Barnwell and Sheridan Hodges and others on the chapter’s spring 2018 board,” she wrote. She also credits Poole faculty members Beth Ritter, chapter advisor; Paul Mulvey, associate professor, and Richard Podurgal, lecturer, as well as other students serving on the fall 2017 and spring 2018 semester boards, and those who participated in the NC State SHRM chapter’s full schedule of professional development programs.

“SHRM has been a great experience for me,” Barnwell wrote in an email exchange with Poole College Communications. “The relationships I have built over my tenure as co-president are without question the most important thing to me. Combined with the opportunities to grow as a leader with such a great team of intelligent individuals, I can’t ask for a better situation.

“Professor Ritter and the other professors give us guidance and support through every obstacle we encounter and we could not do it without them. This award is beyond question a team award, and every single person involved deserves to feel the pride it brings,” he said.

Leadership Role: a Game Changer for Lea Rutter

“Being co-president of NCSU SHRM was a game changer for me in developing confidence in my leadership abilities,” Rutter said in an email interview with Poole College communications.

“One of the most difficult, and important, lessons I learned was to delegate responsibilities. I had to trust the other board members to follow through on our plans. We achieved our goals of engaging, informing, and assisting our membership successfully – as a team,” she said.

“Being co-president greatly factored into my being awarded the Poole College of Management Board of Advisors Outstanding Student Award for fall 2017. My experiences in NCSU SHRM leadership prepared me to step into any professional role as much as the classes I took,” Rutter said.

She now is in her third week as human resource coordinator at SCM Metal Products. “I have a background in manufacturing and wanted to work in human resources in that industry. It took a while to find the right fit, but at SCM Metal Products I have a great opportunity to learn and grow into a well-rounded HR professional. I’m excited about going to work every day,” she said.

But she has not left her campus affiliation behind. Rutter, who was the chapter’s co-president in fall 2017, is now RWHRMA’s College Relations Volunteer and will be working with the student SHRM chapters at both NC State and Meredith College.

Read about the award-winning NC State SHRM here.

About the Society for Human Resource Management

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest HR professional society, representing 285,000 members in more than 165 countries. For nearly seven decades, the Society has been the leading provider of resources serving the needs of HR professionals and advancing the practice of human resource management. SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates. Read more on Twitter and Instagram @SHRMPress.