Louisiana Tech University’s Call Me MISTER program’s leadership and students traveled to the organization’s Annual Leadership Institute at Clemson University before the start of Fall quarter.

Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) is an innovative initiative that focuses on recruiting African American men who desire to become an educator in lower socioeconomic school districts and serve as a role model in the education field.

The annual leadership institute is an interactive, leadership-focused initiative that allows African American Education major candidates, or MISTERs, and distinguished alumni to collaborate, challenge, and encourage one another in the best strategies and practices to become daring educators who promote integrity and excellence, regardless of adversity or conflict.

“This institute is designed to enhance personal development, to understand service-oriented leadership, and to gain a greater sense of empowerment within the context of the history, culture, educational, and spiritual legacy of the MISTER. program,” said Dr. George Noflin, Jr., director of Tech’s Call Me MISTER chapter and one of the founders of the chapter three years ago when Tech became the first site in the state selected to have a Call Me MISTER chapter.

Call Me MISTER is a nationwide program. Some other states besides Louisiana in attendance at Clemson included Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, and Tennessee. The theme for this year’s leadership institute was “Champions for Children.”

To learn more about the Call Me MISTER program, email Noflin at gnoflin@latech.edu.