Personal growth, leadership and avoiding procrastination are the topics of a lecture series this winter and spring sponsored by DePaul University's Naperville Campus. The series is an ongoing endeavor to share DePaul's resources and research with the community.

William Calzaretta, executive director of suburban campuses at DePaul and chairman-elect of the Naperville Chamber of Commerce, said personal growth is a topic of interest to the community and the series was developed based on information from the community, Chamber of Commerce and DePaul's adult learners.

"Participants will come away with actual skills to apply to their personal lives and the workplace," he said.

The first topic, "Learning Life Balance Tools," will examine ways to take control of stress and reinvigorate life. The talk will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 10 at DePaul's Naperville Campus, 150 Warrenville Road.

Westmont resident David Drehmer, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of management at DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, will offer tools and strategies to enrich one's life. He advocates setting goals, managing emotions, making connections through friends and co-workers and remaking challenges into opportunities.

"The way you handle stress and your emotional life has as much to do with your success as your technical competency," noted Drehmer, who is also founder and director of The Performance Enhancement Institute in Naperville.

The second lecture in the series, "Procrastination: It's Not About Time," examines how society rewards procrastinators and why time management techniques don't work. The lecture is set for 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. April 14 at DePaul Naperville.

"People would rather view themselves as procrastinators than as someone who lacks ability," said Lisle resident Joseph Ferrari, an associate professor of psychology at DePaul and one of the country's foremost researchers on procrastination.

The talk is directed not only to the 20 percent of the population who are chronic procrastinators but the 80 percent who procrastinate occasionally. Ferrari also will offer behavioral techniques designed to combat procrastination.

The third lecture in the series, "Optimizing Personal Leadership Style: Applications for Work and Home," will be presented by Barbara Lewis at 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 12 at DePaul Naperville. Lewis is director of organizational development for the Student Leadership Institute at DePaul and a management consultant who helps corporations in Chicago and Silicon Valley to enhance leadership. She will offer participants ways to draw upon their leadership style, deal with difficult people and enhance their ability to influence others.

"Leadership is so important because we have to work with people we don't directly supervise," said Lewis, an Aurora resident. "As a result, we must inspire them to work with us when we have no other recourse," she said. DePaul's Naperville Campus serves more than 2,000 adult learners in a number of growing bachelor's and master's degree programs and certificate programs on a full-service campus that includes a bookstore, computer labs and library.

Each lecture is $15 and is followed by a conversation hour with the presenter and a reception. The public is invited. To register or for more information, call 312/362-6506.