Speaker series to highlight leaders

The College's Lessons in Leadership series will fature notable alumni. Veteran journalist and Penn alumna Andrea Mitchell will kick off the Robert A. Fox Leadership program September 30, marking the official beginning of the new series of non-credit seminars taught by distinguished College of Arts and Sciences alumni who are leaders in their fields. Mitchell, NBC News' chief foreign affairs correspondent, graduated in 1967 and began her journalism career as Penn's WXPN program director. The seminars will each involve a 1 1/2-hour conversation followed by an informal reception. Administrators and selected students will then eat dinner with the alumni leaders, who represent success in journalism, public service, business, academics, the non-profit sector and the entertainment industry. When University President Judith Rodin announced the Fox Leadership program last April -- after University Trustee and 1952 College graduate Robert Fox gave a $10 million gift to the College -- she said it would enhance the educational experience for students in the College by focusing on the development of leadership skills. "The Fox Leadership Program is a wonderful opportunity for students -- an innovative and interactive approach to lessons in leadership skills and achievement," said Rodin, who will sit on the Fox Leadership Steering Committee. "I am planning to lead one of the seminars this year and I am greatly looking forward to it." Three leadership seminars are scheduled, one in September and two in October. Rodin's is not yet on the calendar. Other upcoming speakers are Fox, who is president and chairperson of the Pennsylvania-based investment company R.A.F. Industries, and Mitchell Blutt, a 1978 College graduate and executive partner of Chase Capital Partners. Craig Kanarick, a 1989 College and Engineering graduate and chief scientist at the Razorfish Digital Communications Co., will address students in November. Also speaking will be 1966 College graduate Richard Sabot, an international economic advisor and co-founder of Tripod, an Internet company owned by Lycos. According to College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman, Lessons in Leadership will not only inspire but also advise. "It will put [students] in close touch with individuals who have proven themselves to be leaders in their own lives and create opportunities for our students to benefit from [the leaders'] mentorship," Beeman, also a steering committee member, said yesterday. The steering committee, composed of faculty and administrators, will hold its first meeting next week to discuss other initiatives apart from Lessons in Leadership. According to Beeman, the program is still very much "a work in progress." Speaking skills courses, freshman leadership workshops and public lectures delivered by world leaders are among future Fox Leadership Program curricular and extracurricular projects. The University has named two of three Fox professorships. John DiIulio, a recently hired Political Science professor who joined the faculty this summer, will chair the Fox Leadership Program. And Psychology Professor Martin Seligman will fill the other position. Students can register for the events at http://college.sas.upenn.edu/leadership. The goals of the new program fall under the broad scope of the Agenda for Excellence, Rodin's long-term plan that outlines academic and capital goals.