State Sen. Roy Herron, a Democrat from Dresden, will speak to UTM LEAD Academy participants at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, in Watkins Auditorium about leadership and ethical standards.

Herron’s visit with LEAD is one of several guest speakers the program has had since its beginning last year.

LEAD academy’s principles are leadership, application and discovery.

The program is structured with three levels of development. Level One is made up of workshops and experiences meant to give students certain leadership and management skills.

Workshops offered last spring included: What is Leadership?, Leadership Values and Ethics, Effective Communication, Goal Setting, Making Effective Presentations, Meeting Manage-ment, Decision Making and Leadership Styles.

Through these workshops, students put together a leadership portfolio of what they have done.

The sessions are planned for evenings and Saturdays with the promise of being “informative, interactive, stimulating and fun.”

Students then progress to Level Two, which involves active participation in the campus and community through positions in campus/community clubs and organizations.

Level Three students are given a variety of opportunities and privileges, such as alternative spring break, tutoring corps, service learning, Big Switch programs, travel/study programs and many other things. Last year’s Level Three participants took an alternative spring break trip to New York.

Everyone in LEAD Academy is paired with a faculty/staff mentor, who will help in choosing leadership opportunities and assess progress and give help.

Herron has been a state senator of the 100th through the 103rd general assemblies. He has been a member of the finance, ways and means committee, general welfare committee and TennCare oversight committee.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University, Herron is an attorney and businessman.

He has also written books, including: Things Held Dear: Soul Stories for My Sons (Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), and Tennessee Political Humor: Some of These Jokes You Voted For (University of Tennessee Press, 2000, with L. H. “Cotton” Ivy).