On November 9, James MacGregor Burns joined the Jepson faculty in welcoming the new students into the Jepson School of Leadership Studies during the Prelude induction ceremony.

Martha Slone and her daughter, Amanda, enrolled in UR's interior decorating program for fun. Three years later, they run their own decorating company serving the greater Richmond area.

With spouses, children and jobs to juggle, adults pursuing college degrees usually see study abroad as a distant dream. But through the School of Continuing Studies, non-traditional degree-seeking students can now take a classroom-online hybrid class that includes one week abroad.

Patricia Gallagher believes that learning does not end with a class or degree. "A good education inspires students and stimulates their appetite for continued intellectual growth," says the SCS alumna and current senior vice president and director of strategic planning for EVB, a local bank.

As undergraduates in the 1960s, the Venturas started their lifelong relationship with the University of Richmond.

Through Kaye Vaughan's leadership, the business school's Executive Education program has grown immensely, becoming a strongly profitable entity within the Business School.

Alumna Corrie Mixon first connected her love for justice with her passion for social issues in a leadership studies course. As an AmeriCorps worker and future nurse, that connection is now part of Mixon's daily life.

On Jan. 31, 2009, top economists met at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies to discuss “Leadership in Times of Crisis: Economic Science and the Constitution.”

Many students make a conscious effort to avoid the controversy that often surrounds the discussion of such hot-button topics as sexuality. For his senior honors thesis, Jepson student John Frank, '09, sought to change the pre-existing attitudes toward homosexuals.

“The changes we can make in educating children about the political process can produce better leaders, and at the very least citizens who are well informed about their rights, ” said Meredith Hull, ’09, who discovered her future career goals through research for her senior honors thesis.