From the Dean

Feb. 22, 2024

Students crowded around Robert S. Jepson Jr. during his recent campus visit. When one asked the Jepson School’s visionary benefactor his thoughts on the current state of the school, he replied, “We’re always trying to get better. When you’re the lead pony, you’d better keep running fast!”

An excellent lesson in leadership, and one the Jepson School takes to heart. Indeed, we have been running particularly fast this semester.

Just this past Sunday, 40 alumni led professional development workshops for 67 juniors at our annual Jepson EDGE Institute. Some alums were back on campus Monday for the Jepson Alumni Corps meeting, brainstorming new and better ways to support the school. Still others participated in a Jepson Executive Board of Advisors meeting, also on Monday, where they discussed ongoing efforts to elevate the school’s profile.

Our alumni are making not just our school, but our world, a better place. The current issue of the Jepson Update features graduates who are transforming their local communities through nonprofit work, defending their country through military service, creating gastronomical delights, and more. Our alumni are running fast!

So too are our faculty, who regularly share their research on campus, at conferences, and with the news media. Their creative teaching ensures our students learn not just facts and figures, but more importantly, how to think critically. Faculty bring in outside experts to increase the breadth and depth of knowledge disseminated within the University and to the general public through programs including the Jepson Leadership Forum, McDowell Institute Lecture Series, and Leader-in-Residence Program.

Our students, too, create and share knowledge. I invite you to join us on April 19 when they present their research at the annual Jepson Research Symposium, always an exciting event! I also invite you to make a gift to the Jepson School during UR Here Giving Day, April 3-4. Your support will ensure we continue to get better as we run this race together.

I am so grateful to be a part of this dynamic, forward-looking community. 

Warmest wishes,

Sandra J. Peart
Dean and E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies
President, Jepson Scholars Foundation