"Leadership and the Liberal Arts: Achieving the Promise of a Liberal Education" is the second volume in the "Jepson Studies in Leadership" series. Edited by J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio and Michael A. Genovese and published by Palgrave Macmillan, the book is a collection of essays by college presidents, deans and leading scholars from multiple fields who reflect on the effectiveness of modern liberal education to make students good citizens and leaders.
Higher education today often puts a premium on academic specialization. The editors maintain that such compartmentalization is narrowing - not widening - students' worldview, failing to help students synthesize knowledge across disciplines and failing to teach students civic responsibility. "Leadership and the Liberal Arts" outlines ways this can be rectified. Those include linking the liberal arts to a larger purpose such as serving something beyond the self and by integrating themes - such as leadership - that can help students see the linkages across multiple disciplines.
Contributors to the volume include Kenneth P. Ruscio, president of Washington and Lee University, Gama Perruci, dean of the McDonough Center for Leadership and Business at Marietta College, Richard L. Morrill, chancellor and past president of the University of Richmond, and Sandra J. Peart, dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.The Jepson Studies in Leadership series is home for the best scholarly work on leadership in the humanities and the social sciences. Each volume in the series is dedicated to important themes related to leadership. This approach reflects the Jepson School’s broad-based, liberal arts approach to the study of leadership.