Greetings from the Staley School of Leadership Studies!
With each new semester comes new excitement, perspective, and possibility. Here at the Staley School, we are so thrilled to welcome students, faculty, and staff back to campus this fall. We have enjoyed celebrating the many ways our students and faculty engaged in leadership throughout the warmer months.
This summer, we had many students complete meaningful internships with Cargill as a part of our Cargill Fellows Program. We had a team of four students spend seven weeks with our International Service Teams program in Nyeri, Kenya. In May, Dr. Chance Lee, Assistant Professor and Director of the Nonprofit focus, taught a leadership course to students at Jilin University about American leadership concepts in Changchun, China. In July, three Staley School alumni joined Kerry Priest, SSLS Associate Professor, at the Association of Leadership Educator’s Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They presented several workshops and each received an award. We are so proud of our faculty, alumni, and students who continue to develop their capacity to lead and make an impact.
We have such great momentum moving into the fall semester. It seems that change often accompanies each new semester, in the best possible way. I am so excited to have stepped into the position of Interim Director for the Staley School, as Dr. Mary Hale Tolar serves as the Interim Vice Provost of Student Success. As I lead the Staley School and temporarily take over the responsibility of the Director the Staley School, Dr. Tolar will be providing leadership in the student retention, success and progression areas of the university’s strategic enrollment management efforts.
Another very exciting change taking place this fall is the transition of LEAD 212 from a two-credit course to now three credits. Our faculty and class leaders have taken great initiative in leading this! As we continue to advance the undergraduate learning experience, we look forward to another year collaborating with our students in the Nonprofit focus and Global Food Systems Leadership Secondary Major.
We have officially welcomed our second cohort of students into the new interdisciplinary doctoral program in Leadership Communication. We are energized by the learning and leadership that our doctoral program cultivates and we are very excited about the wealth of knowledge that this new group will bring into the program. Our research endeavors are also deepening in other ways as faculty partner with community organizations and Kansas Leadership Center’s Third Floor Research program to change how we understand leadership at individual and community levels.
What an incredible semester we are embarking on! Be sure to mark your calendars for October 4 & 5, 2019 for our 9th annual Spirit of Leadership in Manhattan. We would love for you to join us as we celebrate and connect. We will also be hosting a reunion for our International Service Teams, Class Leaders and Snyder Leadership Legacy Fellows at this year’s event.
This fall we are walking forward boldly as the Kansas State University turns a new page on how to serve students, our state, and our country. SSLS is excited to be pushing our edges to understand how we too can serve by sharing our knowledge and by understanding the rich experiences of the members of the communities we love so deeply.
Sincere thanks,
Trish