Even though its months away, members of the Shippensburg University chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) are already anticipating hosting its first regional student conference and competition March 5 to 6, 2010.

Dr. Vicki Taylor, associate professor of management and marketing and advisor of the university's SHRM chapter, called it "a wonderful opportunity. We're delighted to be a part of the games and to host the regional conference and games and show off our beautiful campus."

Taylor described it as another opportunity to raise the visibility of the university, which is cited on the SHRM Web site and listed in HR Magazine.

The event is expected to bring to campus more than 50 professional SHRM chapter volunteers and 200-250 business students from throughout the northeast.

Taylor said the games are not only fun for participating students, but there are additional benefits to the conference and games. She said studying for the games helps prepare students for the Professional and Human Resources Exam they may take at the end of their studies. Taylor said the regional conference also offers students an opportunity to have their resumes reviewed by HR professionals, participate in development activities and network.

Erin Thompson, vice president of the SHRM chapter, worked to put the bid together to host the conference and games. "I'm really excited," the junior human resource management major from Palmyra said, adding that hosting the event "really shows off our business school."

This is the fifth year the chapter will compete in the HRGAMES, which consist of a series of Jeopardy-style matches between teams of up to three undergraduate students. Questions cover various human resource management subjects including selection and recruitment, training and development, compensation and benefits, employee/labor relations and health and safety. After a series of initial matches, teams with the best records participate in championship rounds for first and second place.

According to Thompson, the six Ship competitors will spend the remainder of the semester studying stacks of cards with terms from the HR textbooks. Next semester they will practice as if they are competing in the actual games.

Taylor said two teams will represent SU in the 2010 games, including one team with students who competed last year. She said teams that have competed before tend to do better in the competition.

Seniors James Baddorf of Enola, Alisha Rohrbaugh of Hanover, both human resources management majors, competed at the last version of the games at William Paterson University in New Jersey, and look forward to competing again. Rohrbaugh, who is also president of SHRM, said the SU teams finished seventh and thirteenth in the last competition.

Taylor said she's "very optimistic about their ability to do well in the games."

"We really want to win, especially since we're hosting," Rohrbaugh said. "The prediction is we'll be in the top three or two and I think we could win."

For his part, Baddorf plans to "get the butterflies out in round one and take it from there. It's great showing that little SU can compete with the big-name universities, like Cornell and Penn State."