Jepson and the International Leadership Association

The International Leadership Association, the global network for those who practice, study, and teach leadership, promotes a deeper understanding of leadership knowledge and practices for the greater good of individuals and communities worldwide.

Its international roots go back to 1995 and the Salzburg Seminar on Global Leadership, Concepts, and Challenges held in Austria, co-chaired by Georgia Sorenson and James MacGregor Burns, and attended by scholars and leaders from 50 countries. Throughout the mid 1990s, participants of the Kellogg Leadership Studies Project (KLSP) discussed the need for an organization to support the field of leadership studies. Supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with Larraine Matusak’s leadership, and based at the Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, the KLSP convened a premier group of 50 leadership scholars and practitioners to create and publish cross-disciplinary leadership research. Jepson faculty members were in that group.

One outcome of the KLSP project was the convening of a conference of the Leaders/Scholars Association, a meeting of those who study leadership and those who practice it. The conference was deemed a success, and participants decided to continue meeting as an association of scholars, educators, leadership development professionals, and practitioners who share an interest in leadership. The association was to be diverse in thought, discipline, culture, sector, and geography. After many more conversations, the name “International Leadership Association” was chosen.

Around the same time, a group of leadership educators began to rotate conferences between the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and the Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland. When the idea of the ILA became a reality, it was decided to join efforts at the first ILA conference in 1999.

Since then, the ILA has become the largest international and interdisciplinary membership organization devoted solely to the study and development of leadership. The ILA is one of the few organizations to actively embrace academics, practitioners, consultants, private industry, public leaders, nonprofit organizations, and students. The association convenes an annual global conference.

Since 2005, the Jepson School has partnered with ILA on the Jablin Doctoral Disseration Award, which is presented in a gala awards program at a conference session. Jepson scholars routinely present at the conference, as have some alumni.

 

Source: ILA website