"Leadership" author James MacGregor Burns will speak at the Jepson School's Prelude on Nov. 9

James MacGregor Burns will speak at the Jepson School of Leadeship Studies' Prelude ceremony Nov. 9.  Prelude is an induction ceremony into the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and Burns is the world's best known scholar in the field.

Jepson students apply for admission in the first semester of their second year, and those accepted into the School are formally welcomed at Prelude. It serves as an introduction to the opportunities and experiences of the School, setting the foundation for the academic work ahead for its students while introducing the theme of an ambitious and close-knit academic community that supports and inspires its members along the way.

Burns is the nation’s preeminent scholar in leadership studies and was a member of the Jepson School's founding faculty in 1992. Burns won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for his second biography of FDR, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. His book Leadership, published in 1978, was the pioneering work that introduced the field of leadership studies. 

His ties to the School are deep. When Burns was a faculty member and senior fellow at the Jepson School in 2001, he and other national leadership scholars began a series of dialogues about integrative theories of leadership. Named to honor him, the annual James MacGregor Burns Lecture in Leadership Studies and Biography brings big-name speakers to campus each year. The James MacGregor Burns Award, established in 1994 by Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Jepson Jr., is given to a graduating senior in recognition of his or her accomplishments as a student in the Jepson School. The Burns Award is the School's highest academic honor.

Posted October 1, 2009