Melissa Ruiz to present "Dance Floor Theory" at Welcome Week keynote

Melissa Ruiz
Credit: Penn State

Penn State Altoona will present Swift Kick's Melissa Ruiz Tuesday, August 22, 2017, from 12:10 - 1:10 p.m. in the Pond View Lounge of the Slep Student Center. Ruiz will be the second keynote speaker for Penn State Altoona's Welcome Week, which takes place August 18-26.

In her presentation titled "Dance Floor Theory," Ruiz sets out to prove that everything you need to know about leadership can be learned from dance floors. Just like on a dance floor, every college student experiences varying levels of engagement, ranging from those who are fully involved (student leaders) to those lurking on the edge (apathetic students). The same tactics to create successful social change on a dance floor – connections, relevancy, models of success, and motivation – also work to increase engagement within any college. "Dance Floor Theory" provides student leaders a new model for creating community, increasing student engagement, and fostering a culture of retention.

Melissa Ruiz, MSW began her career in higher education in conferences and events before transitioning into residence life and then student life and academic advising. She jokingly says there isn’t a job in student fffairs she hasn’t done yet. Ruiz is part of a facilitation team at Swift Kick that has been named the number one student leadership program five years by schools nationwide and has already worked with over 550 colleges in almost every state. Over 227,000 students have already experienced the shift of "Dance Floor Theory" leadership training to help them fight apathy on their campus. She also authored the Amazon.com award winning book First Year Student to First Year Success.

Welcome Week at Penn State Altoona is presented by the Center for Student and Civic Engagement.