Leadership Studies Commons^™

Theater : The Training Ground For Creative Leadership, Will Peters

Honors Theses

As our world races toward the twenty-first century, the demand for capable leaders has risen dramatically. Our new environment, saturated with futuristic technology, rapid change, and ethical failure is bellowing for a new type of guidance, one that will successfully match the needs of a new frontier. This fresh leadership will have many of its important roots within the dynamic realm of the arts. No other medium has the ability to maintain such a visceral connection with the public at large, nor the capacity to furnish such a vivid personal awareness and compassion for our fellow humans. Theater, in particular, …

Leadership In Christian Organizations : A Study Of Christian Leadership As It Attempts To Implement Vision And Change, Bartholomew Irwin

Honors Theses

God does call certain people to be leaders in the church and grants them the skills necessary to fill their position. However, there are also examples where the Lord used specific leadership training, in the form of letters and mentorship, in order to better equip leaders to use the gifts given to them. This paper will look at the need for leadership training in the church today. Leadership training will be studied as it related to the Leaders ability to deal with changes and crisis, specifically pertaining the problem arising from membership drops in the main line denominational churches. A …

The Importance Of Multi-Sourced Leadership In A Post-International Global Order, Elizabeth Mackenzie

Honors Theses

We have come to a point in time when the problems in the world such as environmental degradation, human rights, overpopulation, and ethnic strife seem more difficult to solve than ever before. While it is possible that this is because the problems are more complex and require solutions beyond current human comprehension, it is more likely that we have been looking to the wrong institutions to solve our problems. However, we are in the midst of change. A paradigm may be shifting. Human beings around the world are gradually moving away from completely relying on sovereign state actors to address …

"We Shall Overcome" And Gangsta Rap : An Investigation Of The Role Of Music In The Civil Rights Movement And In Contemporary Urban Society, Christopher Yurchuck

Honors Theses

The non-violent protestors of the Civil Rights Movement found in their music, a sense of healing and of cohesion within their group, a group of blacks and whites alike, fighting the injustices of a supposedly just society. They used the Freedom Songs to express dissention with the system, to disseminate information to other movement participants, and to bind the group together. The black militants of the '60s in the Civil Rights Movement did not use music as a form of their expression; rather, their silence, an absence of music, said it all. Today, gangsta rappers are a fusion of the …

Philanthropic Leadership : Comparing Historical And Contemporary Methods Of Philanthropic Giving, Patrick Rucker

Honors Theses

America has a unique tradition of philanthropy. Wealthy benefactors have created some of our most notable institutions for health, education and the arts. The level of philanthropic giving has been consistently high yet the tradition of giving has taken many shapes and assumes several forms today. One of the most interesting and currently debated forms of charitable giving is money directed towards social change or the achievement of a certain social agenda. Money is given today to support or stall legal abortions, racial integration, and a host of other social issues. This paper will examine the tradition of giving in …

Children And Guns : A Lethal Combination, Jennifer Dunlap

Honors Theses

An unacceptable number of children die each year in the United States and Virginia as the result of abuse, neglect, and preventable injuries. Through my participation as a member of the Virginia State Child Fatality Review Team, I hope to observe and influence leadership in the process of making the state safer.

Uncharted Leadership : A Study Of Leadership In The Judicial Branch, Kevin Donnelly

Honors Theses

This paper is the final product of a research oriented project in which I studied leadership within the federal judicial system, specifically the Supreme Court of the United States. This project was an in depth study of the amount, style, and effect of Leadership in the Judicial branch. Through this study I hoped to explore a major component of government which has somehow been ignored when studying leadership at the national level.

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Gregory Devine

Honors Theses

I intend to provide a resource which Jepson students, faculty, staff, and alumni can use when thinking about starting their own business based on information from a number of sources, the most important of which is current entrepreneurs.

The Presence Of Leadership In The Homeless Environment : A Study Of Leader Traits, Perceptions Of Leadership And Difficulties Facing Potential Leaders In The Homeless Environment, Maria C. Chavez

Honors Theses

This study examines the existence of leadership in this context of the homeless. More specifically, the study looks at the leadership traits and the potential for leadership among homeless women finding temporary refuge in an emergency shelter in Richmond, VA. It will also give more legitimacy to the notion that leadership can exist in any context. And finally, this study will look at the difficulties potential leaders in the homeless context face, and what the possible ways are to alleviate them.

The Christian Children's Fund, Gretchen Wherry

Honors Theses

The Christian Children's Fund (CCF) is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization created to serve children and their families by providing education, medical care, food, clothing and shelter. This organization is the largest independent child care and development organization in existence today. It has served approximately two and a half million children and their families in over 40 countries worldwide, and it continues to serve more and more everyday. 2

In 1938, due to famine, bombings, and suffering of children in China from the Japanese invasion, J. Catvitt Clarke founded the China's Children Fund (CCF). He created this organization to send relief …

Special Olympics : A Study Of Potential Opportunities To Foster Leadership And Personal Development Within Participants, Adam Ward

Honors Theses

The idea for my senior project was born out of a struggle. I had tinkered with several thoughts regarding potential projects, hut I was not eager to dedicate myself to something toward which I felt little passion. When Dr. Hickman mentioned the possibility of examining the opportunities for leadership among Special Olympics athletes, I was intrigued. In high school I donated time with The Miriam School, which catered to special-needs students. For my service learning project in the spring of my junior year I had the opportunity to work in the Special Education classroom of Three Chopt Elementary School - …

Leadership From The Bench : Are Morals Irrelevant?, John Unice

Honors Theses

Morality, understood as the underlying beliefs and values that guide our choices, permeates our personal and professional lives. The Jepson School places a great deal of emphasis on moral leadership, for the importance of leading with a core set of values is discussed in nearly every class. Via my Jepson School experience, I have become sensitive to the issues surrounding the ethical decision-making process, and believe that this area is worthy of study. As a student leader, I have been faced with many situations that required moral or ethical decisions. As I hopefully join the legal profession, the need for …

Music As A Cultural Context For Change : A Study Of Rock Music Of The 1950s And 60s, Sarah Toraason

Honors Theses

Art is important because it sensitizes people and makes them aware of important issues and events. '[M]usic can reveal the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach." (Pielke 1986) It has the capacity to reach a huge audience. It is a "language understood by all without instruction ... Music is a way of holding off time, making the present fill all space. It joins us with others yet defends our privacy. It lifts the spirit, assuages grief, and sometimes teaches as well. Above all, music creates values, along with a social structure that nurtures, defends, …

Student Change Leadership, A Renewal Process For Organizations : A Case Study Of The 1995 Panhellenic Rush Revision, Melanie Sandukas

Honors Theses

Greek organizations experienced a national revival in the late eighties. According to Mrs. Scott's figures, rush participation increased on sixty percent of campuses in 1995. However, in these times of negative publicity and litigation, nervous university administrators question the merit of the Greek system. In "The Survival of Greek Life: Concerns and Solutions" Robert Ackerman states, "The fact that change is necessary suggests that some fraternities and sororities are falling short of the ideals upon which they were founded." He observes, "Change, when it does occur, all too often appears to result from an attempt to avoid problems or from …

Corporate Ethics, Elizabeth Milligan

Honors Theses

This paper explores leadership, social responsibility and business ethics. Business ethics have become a contradiction of terms due to the lack of accountability inherent in corporate structure. An exploration of ethical theory is an attempt to demonstrate that corporations can be seen as leaders. If a corporation can be an actor and a leader it can be held morally accountable for the changes that it makes on the environment and society.

Corporations make decisions, influence society, structure jobs, produce, innovate and change. Corporations act as leaders. As a leader it is essential that a corporation be socially responsible. The individuals …

Student Development In Residence Life Systems: A Framework For Understanding Intentional Education/Outputs, Jason Jacoby

Honors Theses

The residence life strategic planning committee consists of the staff of the Richmond College Dean's Office. They are primarily Area Coordinators and are headed by the Assistant Dean of Richmond College. I am the only student on this committee and am using this opportunity to participate in their activity of creating a strategic plan to be implemented in next year's residence life activities. The plan must work within the parameters of the University's strategic plan, Engagement in Learning. This committee divided the process into four areas: Intentional Education/Outputs, Staff Support and Development, Students and Their Community, Publicity/Awareness. Each of these …

Women's Rights In China : A Paradigm Shift In Progress, Jennifer Hoag

Honors Theses

Chinese women have been historically oppressed. Female children have been killed. Women's feet have been bound. They have denied access to education. Female oppression is part of Chinese tradition which is the most powerful influence in China. Economic independence and increased education have lead women to mobilize. This paper asserts that this mobilization has created a feminist movement which in turn is causing a paradigm shift in the way Chinese view women.

Great change has taken place in China in the last century. The image of women has changed from that of a commodity that is not to be seen …

Academic Versus Popular Press Perspectives In Sport Leadership : A Comparative Analysis, Frank Spina

Honors Theses

Athletic competition has been an increasingly integral part of society for the better part of three millennia. Beginning with the dawn of the ancient Olympics, sports have remained a highly valued component of all cultures in forms as different as the Medieval Tournament and the World Series. The role such competition plays has also taken on varying forms including sanctioned violence, alternative entertainment, spectatorism, and exercise, and has ultimately evolved into the current status of sports as a multi-billion dollar industry. Surely this popularity of professional competition is indicative of the powerful impact of sports on modem life: "few phenomena …

A Development Model For The Human Resources Department Of The Reynolds Metals Company, Elizabeth A. Crowe

Honors Theses

The benefits of having done this type of action/research/process-oriented project are two-fold. First, there is the situational knowledge that we have gained from incorporating an internship into our project; second is the actual product (the development tool) which will actually be used by Human Resources employees at the Reynolds Metals Company. These results reflect exactly the type of experience that we had hoped to have.

The incorporation of an experiential aspect is something that we both sought out in coordinating our senior project. Our enormous personal growth can be measured by comparing our initial confusion and bewilderment with our current …

Eleanor And Hillary : First Lady Leadership In The Contexts Of History And Contemporary Culture, Beth Allen

Honors Theses

The work of this paper is important to leadership studies for two reasons. First of all, such examination furthers the exploration of first lady leadership and interprets the lives and works of ER and HRC in a new way. Also, this paper will help test the validity of a new model of contingency theory. Wren and Swatez explain that leadership studies needs such a model, one "that identifies and affirms the various levels of historical and cultural forces that act upon the leadership process" (247).

Contingency theories of leadership examine the relationship between leaders, followers, and the situation, and often …

Disney World--Leadership?, Laurie Kopp

Honors Theses

I began my study of Disney by writing down all of my personal impressions and memories of Disney. Before I read any articles, texts, publications, conducted interviews, and made observations, I wanted to understand where my perspective came from and consequently, the biases that I may run into during my research. Like many, I have visited the theme park as a child. Returning to Disney, this time over Christmas break as a Jepson student attuned to the leadership process, I was reminded of my youth but also struck by the ingenuity and the plentitude of leadership practice. I left the …

Leadership Training & Development In Secondary Schools, Vanessa M. Hesling

Honors Theses

After visiting several schools, talking to teachers and administrators, and actually presenting leadership workshops to youth, we have recognized the need to promote leadership education. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to develop ways advocating leadership education in high schools, through such means as conferences, camps, school in-service programs, and leadership texts. We have developed various programs focusing on many aspects of leadership, including motivation, conflict resolution, communication, ethics, decision making, vision, service, and group dynamics. We strongly believe that the merits of our programs, coupled with our theoretical background, will profoundly impact students' lives. Leadership is not a …

Disaproving The Military As An Effective Paradigm Of Leadership: A Critical Analysis, Alison M. Sestina

Honors Theses

In the study of leadership, there are many existing paradigms which address the different contexts and abilities of leadership. The example of the military is often used as a leadership paradigm; however, while the organization and internal development included in the military can be respected as an effective machine, in reality, the military cannot be considered an effective leadership paradigm.

Business Leadership And Moral Imagination In The Twenty-First Century, Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

My assignment in this year's series on "Moral Values: The Challenge of the Twenty-First Century" is to talk about moral values in a free society and the challenge for business leaders in the twenty-first century. My perspective on this topic is as a philosopher and educator. I also speak as a consultant who has developed corporate programs on ethics and leadership, primarily in the financial services industry. The focus of my presentation is on the issues that need to be addressed in order to educate the next generation of leaders.

Henry Berry Lowry: Champion Of The Dispossessed, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The nineteenth century stands apart in the minds of indigenous peoples as a period of extreme hardship. Tribes in the first half of this era, were initially victimized by the enactment of devastating "segregation" measures (i.e. the Indian Removal policy and later the Reservation policy). Later in the century, when it was clear that segregation was an insufficient response to intercultural relations, the federal government shifted its powerful attention to a series of overtly ethnocidal "civilization," or better termed, "Americanization" measures. Broadly stated, such measures entailed the cultural assimilation, the spiritual assimilation, and the physical assimilation of indigenous lands and …

Indian Religious Freedom: Recognized/Denied, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Clinton's sacred site executive order applies to all "federal lands" and to all "recognized" Indian tribes. A "sacred site" is defined as "any specific, discrete, narrowly delineated location of Federal land that is identified by an Indian tribe, or Indian individual... as sacred by virtue of its established religious significance to, or ceremonial use by, an Indian religion; provided that the tribe or appropriately authoritative representative of an Indian religion has informed the agency of the existence of such a site."

The issue that seemed most troublesome from William Downes' legal perspective, besides the alleged Establishment clause violation, was that …

Women Leaders : Balancing Professional And Personal Lives, Meredith L. Schalick

Honors Theses

The concept for my Senior Project originated from concerns and questions about my future and observations I have made about women leaders. This project was designed for four purposes: (1) to meet a need for University of Richmond students, (2) examine a subject in which I have vested interest because of my career goals, (3) improve my research skills, and (4) address an issue dealing with women and leadership. The project attempts to illustrate that women, as a result of their role assignment by society to be the primary care-provider for children, face certain challenges when they seek to find …

Political Leadership: A Study In The State Government, Chet Clark

Honors Theses

For this study, a member of the House of Delegates, who has been designated as a leader by his peers, has been selected for analysis. Delegate William Howell agreed to be observed during the legislative session of the House of Delegates. Three specific areas of leadership were observed during this time period. The decision making process, leader-constituent interaction, and the influence of values on leadership have been chosen as the three key areas of political leadership study.

Leading Change In The Healthcare Industry : Sentara Health Systems, Norfolk, Virginia, Heather S. Heitz

Honors Theses

After going through the steps of implementing a change in Sentara Health Systems, I learned that using my visionary and participatory leadership skills contributed to my success in leading a change in the organization. First, I used my visionary leadership skills to encourage each individual to envision processes, to support each other, and to use resources which would motivate the group to do something that they wanted to do. Also, I used a participatory leadership to ensure that the subordinates were involved in the group's goals throughout the change process. By empowering people to have responsibility when changes are made …

Leading The Unpopular Cause : Legal Advocacy For Abused Women, Katarine L. Donahue

Honors Theses

I decided to compile research on legal advocacy, specifically representing abused women, and to create a training manual for court advocates. This guide will become a part of the task force's goal to serve the battered women within the community. I have analyzed the purpose and need for legal advocates, including a literature review and my own leadership reflections.