I visited Carnegie Mellon University this last week as a speaker in the University Lecture Series. In addition to delivering an evening lecture, I met with three different student groups, a mix of faculty and staff, and the House Fellows (full-time staff in the residence halls). Carnegie Mellon also just happens to be the institution where my youngest daughter received her bachelor's degree in 2006 and now serves as a 5th-year Scholar. Carnegie Mellon has been an incredible place for her. Therefore, it was a very special pleasure to give back a little bit by contributing to their campus conversation on leadership. Thanks to former Miami graduate student, Jon Kroll, for bringing me to Carnegie Mellon.
"My heart is in the work" is a quote used throughout Carnegie Mellon's campus. This is a quote from its founder, Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie was a poor Scottish imigrant who came to the U.S.A. as a young boy. Having experienced poverty, he was ambitious and took advantage of every opportunity to amass wealth, which he was very effective in doing. Adjusting for the value of the dollar, he is reported to be the richest man every to walk the earth. His motto was this amazing statement, "My heart is in the work." There simply couldn't be a better motto for an institution that wants to take leadership seriously. My "Deeper Leadership" proposal is based on the belief that the best of leadership begins with discovering the work worth doing, or in Andrew Carnegie's words, work in which his heart was completely invested. While not all of us will become fabulously wealthy, those of us who find and live our life's work will surely acquire riches in the fulfillment of our work. I believe that Carnegie Mellon is seriously committed to helping its students find conviction and purpose and that is why students engage deeply in their learning and it is why their students will be successful and will contribute much to the world around them.
Two of the more interesting encounters during the Carnegie Mellon visit were meetings with students from the Qatar Education City campus and with the House Fellows. There were about 8-10 Qatar students who were visiting Pittsburgh and attended a luncheon, my lecture, and then a dessert reception following the lecture. These students are wildly enthusiastic about being among the first to graduate next year from this brand new institution. And, they sensed both the opportunity and challenge of their education. They know that they will have great career opportunities and they want to represent Carnegie Mellon well as they begin to make a difference throughout the middle east. This is a powerful example of the transformative impact of higher education and it was great to see the emerging product. The other group I found very stimulating was the House Fellow group. I used Chapter 1 of Deeper Learning in Leadership with this group. Chapter 1 covers the emergence of faculty and student affairs roles in colleges and universities of the U.S.A. and then critiques how these roles and the complexity of our institutions either contribute to or distract from learning. This meeting (1.5 hours) was one of the easiest of my visit. I simply engaged them in conversation about their reactions to the chapter and I couldn't be happier about how well they seemed to take to the ideas I proposed. This is the first time I've used this chapter and I'm anxious to see how others respond as Deeper Learning in Leadership makes it into print this summer.
Next stop - Orlando. I have three presentations at ACPA this coming weekend. One is a brief presentation and colleagues' reactions to the Deeper Learning in Leadership ideas. Come back to see how it went...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Colgate
"Arts of Democracy and Public Achievement" is the focus of the sophomore experience at Colgate University, a campus I visited last week. I went to Colgate to hear what they were doing in leadership and residential education and to propose ideas from Deeper Learning in Leadership. As most of my trips go, I hoped to contribute but I also learned a great deal more than I ever anticipated.
I was fascinated with the way that Colgate has reconceptualized the role of student affairs staff. Adam Weinberg, the former Dean of the College, was a sociology professor who took on the role of Dean during a particularly pivotal transition time. Colgate had determined that they wanted to have a more substantial focus on residential education that could help their students learn critical lessons to engage in contemporary communities. Part of this initiative would result in Colgate buying all of the off-campus fraternity and sorority houses to make them part of the campus-wide residential education program (a bit controversial, to say the least). Adam worked with the staff to redefine their work in ways that reflected John Dewey's ideas of democratic education. As such, staff rethought and began to pursue their roles as catalysts and supporters of students' learning rather than as care-takers, programmers, and administrators. While the transition to this model is incomplete, it is obvious that students are responding well and that student affairs staff have discerned a role that makes them more central in the University learning community.
The irony of Adam's leadership in bringing about the shift toward a democratic education perspective is that he and others labeled this as an educational break-through, rather than the rediscovery of the original purposes of student personnel work. The first chapter of Deeper Learning in Leadership retraces the philosophical origins of the field and how student personnel drifted from democratic education principles to student services and then student development work. I can hardly wait until people begin to read this chapter and begin to realize the opportunity that has been missed over the last 50+ years.
While Colgate's initiative is wonderful, one tragedy of their discovery of the "Arts of Democracy and Public Achievement" is that decision makers had no clue that Dewey's views were to have been incoporated in student personnel work from the early 20th century. It's incredible that Colgate has the courage to define a new role for student affairs and that they are using this new role to forge a different kind of university - an engaged university that helps students learn how to conduct themselves in a democratic society. They have also defined a process of engaged learning that allows students, faculty, and staff to make a difference in their own community. What incredible gifts the discovery of new ways of learning have brought - too bad that the lack of clarity of student affairs work allowed these possibilities to linger undiscovered for so long.
A great person I met through last year's LeaderShape Institute brought me to Colgate - Tim Mansfield, Assistant Dean of Students. I am always amazed at how much I learn from going to other settings, attempting to help them, but all the time benefitting more myself. This example will forever by etched in my memory as I continue to work to advocate ideas from Deeper Learning in Leadership. Note to self - how many other places have similar struggles that originate from a lack of knowing? How can we become more informed so that needed changes come faster and easier?
I was fascinated with the way that Colgate has reconceptualized the role of student affairs staff. Adam Weinberg, the former Dean of the College, was a sociology professor who took on the role of Dean during a particularly pivotal transition time. Colgate had determined that they wanted to have a more substantial focus on residential education that could help their students learn critical lessons to engage in contemporary communities. Part of this initiative would result in Colgate buying all of the off-campus fraternity and sorority houses to make them part of the campus-wide residential education program (a bit controversial, to say the least). Adam worked with the staff to redefine their work in ways that reflected John Dewey's ideas of democratic education. As such, staff rethought and began to pursue their roles as catalysts and supporters of students' learning rather than as care-takers, programmers, and administrators. While the transition to this model is incomplete, it is obvious that students are responding well and that student affairs staff have discerned a role that makes them more central in the University learning community.
The irony of Adam's leadership in bringing about the shift toward a democratic education perspective is that he and others labeled this as an educational break-through, rather than the rediscovery of the original purposes of student personnel work. The first chapter of Deeper Learning in Leadership retraces the philosophical origins of the field and how student personnel drifted from democratic education principles to student services and then student development work. I can hardly wait until people begin to read this chapter and begin to realize the opportunity that has been missed over the last 50+ years.
While Colgate's initiative is wonderful, one tragedy of their discovery of the "Arts of Democracy and Public Achievement" is that decision makers had no clue that Dewey's views were to have been incoporated in student personnel work from the early 20th century. It's incredible that Colgate has the courage to define a new role for student affairs and that they are using this new role to forge a different kind of university - an engaged university that helps students learn how to conduct themselves in a democratic society. They have also defined a process of engaged learning that allows students, faculty, and staff to make a difference in their own community. What incredible gifts the discovery of new ways of learning have brought - too bad that the lack of clarity of student affairs work allowed these possibilities to linger undiscovered for so long.
A great person I met through last year's LeaderShape Institute brought me to Colgate - Tim Mansfield, Assistant Dean of Students. I am always amazed at how much I learn from going to other settings, attempting to help them, but all the time benefitting more myself. This example will forever by etched in my memory as I continue to work to advocate ideas from Deeper Learning in Leadership. Note to self - how many other places have similar struggles that originate from a lack of knowing? How can we become more informed so that needed changes come faster and easier?
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