By Sandra J. Peart, Dean and E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies and President of the Jepson Scholars Foundation
Two days after this post is published, the Jepson School will celebrate Finale, our senior recognition ceremony. The following day, we’ll graduate 73 leadership studies majors (almost doubling the number who graduated a decade ago!). They are diverse in their
Read more“You made it.” Dr. Julian Hayter, the faculty speaker at Jepson’s 2018 Senior Banquet, launched his remarks with this simple statement. It’s a familiar theme during Commencement season because it reflects an important accomplishment — four years of hard work
Read moreLike Stover, I believe the humanities and social sciences are valuable in and of themselves. We are better for knowing ideas. Having seen Coriolanus or read Thucydides makes us more interesting, more complex, and more capable. Being interesting to one’s
Read moreIn the last installment, I laid out Alfred Marshall’s argument that we are better off because we have come to understand key ideas. Marshall further pointed out that if we destroy the embodiment of the ideas, such as the law
Read moreIn a March 4 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Justin Stover wrote, “The humanities are not just dying—they are almost dead.” He argued that there is no coherent instrumental argument to “save” the humanities. Instead, the humanities simply
Read moreI recently traveled to the University of Oxford, meeting one-on-one with some of the most fascinating people on the planet. The meetings were part of a larger project—stay tuned!—but, since leadership often hinges on negotiation, I want to take a
Read moreBy Kate Materna Rezabek, JSLS ’02, Co-chair, Jepson Alumni Corps In its sixth consecutive year, the Jepson EDGE Institute is growing rapidly in popularity and purpose, with an increasing focus on how to translate the theories and practices learned within
Read more“Boss.” That simple word still startles me. In the academy, professors rarely acknowledge they have a boss; as an assistant professor, I thought I would be the architect of my career. The department chair was a nuisance to be tolerated
Read moreMany leaders seek to create factions because it is easier to lead a group of people who are fired up about those outside the group. Think about National Socialism or a leader’s call to fight the enemy. Churchill, Patton—these are
Read morePerhaps the most important lesson I took away from Dr. Vivian Pinn’s remarks to a large crowd of students, faculty, and community members is that leadership sometimes has to change perceptions. Through her decades-long career, Dr. Pinn refocused public health
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