Message from Dean Sandra J. Peart 

January 2008

The Jepson School of Leadership Studies remains unique in the United States as an undergraduate school of leadership studies. We also have become the exemplar for the many leadership studies programs that are being created in higher education worldwide.  

What is Leadership Studies: Jepson’s Academic Program

The core of Jepson is our liberal arts academic program. We call it Leadership Studies for a reason: The Jepson School uses multiple disciplinary lenses to teach students for and about leadership. Curriculum goals are achieved through courses such as Foundations of Leadership Studies, the gateway course open to all University of Richmond students, and our capstone course, Ethics and Leadership. Required and elective courses reflect the Jepson School’s commitment to studying leadership across disciplines. Experiential components weave through the curriculum so students come to understand how to use the knowledge gained in their courses outside the classroom.

Why Leadership Studies?

The Jepson School was founded to fill a critical need in higher education: to help students better understand leadership so that they can become active, thoughtful, and effective participants in their world. As that world changes at near breakneck speed, students today must decide whether to let change happen as it will or to become engaged in the process, to help shape the future. We know change is certain. Leadership helps ensure that change is intentional. While we recognize at Jepson that leadership can take many forms, the School presupposes that students are enriched when they have the knowledge and skills to contribute to organizational, political, and social life. To this end, the School provides many and varied opportunities to learn about and experience the pervasive phenomenon of leadership.

How: Engagement in and with the Community:  

Our students learn about theories and models of leadership in the classroom, and they are also deeply engaged in the events of the world around them. Jepson encourages this engagement through service learning, internships, research opportunities, group work in local organizations, as well as visits to battlefields and nearby national resources including the United States Holocaust Museum, the U.S. Department of State, or the U.S. Supreme Court.

We also share our commitment to the importance of leadership to audiences in the community at large. The Jepson Leadership Forum is our showcase lecture series open to the public at no charge. We are active participants in the International Leadership Association, the major organization for scholars and practitioners of leadership. We co-sponsor the Center for Leadership in Education to educate established and emerging leaders in public education in the greater Richmond area. And, we frequently host visitors from around the world who seek advice about how to “do” leadership studies.

Dean Sandra J. Peart is the fourth dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, founded in 1992. More about Dean Peart