The Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership
HANDS
HEAD
HEART Berry College’s time-tested “education of the head, heart and hands” combines intellectual skills and practical skills in a way that shapes people known for their work ethic, character and readiness for the challenges of life. Our demanding academic programs rival those of many of the nation’s finest liberal arts colleges, and our voluntary student work program is the largest and most sophisticated of its type in the nation. We teach responsibility by giving responsibility and seek to graduate engaged citizens who are ready, willing and able to improve their families, workplaces and world.
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The Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership for students of all majors Fundraising Goal – $5 Million
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Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.
– Warren Buffett
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Personal responsibility and character have always been at the heart of a Berry education just as ethical leadership has been central to life as a member of the campus community. Through the Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership (BCIL), we will provide even deeper grounding in values and integrity as well as practice in the day-to-day decision-making that integrity in leadership requires. Learning how to respond appropriately in both routine and difficult situations depends on the discipline of thinking critically. While many leadership programs focus primarily on business or specific career paths, Berry’s center encompasses ethical leadership in all aspects of life – from corporate management to running a small business to volunteering with a youth soccer league. That’s because all positions of “leadership” come with the shared responsibilities of influencing others and meeting their needs.
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The First Step: A Unique Mentoring Program The Gordon and Joyce Carper Integrity in Leadership Mentoring Program has been in operation several years with growing numbers of students and mentors meeting twice monthly in groups of about five for in-depth discussion, case studies, review of readings, and learning firsthand from people experienced in making difficult real-life decisions. The program could not be more appropriately named. The late Dr. Carper was a legendary Berry faculty member whose impact on his students remains profound and lasting. Together, Dr. Carper and his wife, Joyce, spent the better part of their lives mentoring Berry students in ways that, in the words of one former student, “changed the course of our lives entirely and forever.”
We are moving steadily toward a goal of at least 200 students meeting regularly with 40 mentors from the business, nonprofit and volunteer-service communities. Juniors and seniors are eligible to be interviewed for the program after recommendation by a faculty or staff member. Our growing list of mentors could not be more outstanding, including a former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice, a retired school superintendent, a retired wealth management executive and an oncologist, to name only a few. Students are hailing interaction with their mentors as one of their best Berry experiences.
Students are saying ...
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There is more to leadership than just what you do. It is how you do it, why you do it, and the training and work you put into it.
Always act with integrity. Being a leader is a mindset, not a position. Act as if every leadership decision you made were going to be publicized on the news.
This broadened my focus from Berry to the much larger community. It helped me to think about applying what I’m learning in the classroom to how I can start shaping my future now.
[My mentor] defines leadership in his daily actions and has taught me so many valuable life lessons. I am now better prepared to enter into my senior year. I believe that this program has made all the difference in my future in any leadership role.
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Former Student Government President Ree Palmer (16C) was a leader at Berry in every sense of the word. Naturally shy, she found her voice in student government as a freshman when a friend convinced her to run for office. Before graduation, she had learned, practiced and shared leadership skills as a Leadership Fellow and was one of the first participants in BCIL’s mentoring program, meeting regularly with former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman S. Fletcher. “Berry ensures that its student leaders know how to handle leadership roles with professionalism and dedication by handing them responsibility from day one,” she said of her experiences. What’s next in her journey? Palmer and a classmate were two of only 35 accepted in 2016 for Indiana University’s highly selective master’s program in higher education and student affairs.
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Steps 2 and 3: Looking Within and Beyond ■ Integrity in Leadership Certificate Program Students who participate in the BCIL mentoring program for at least a year have the opportunity to earn an Integrity in Leadership Certificate by also: 1) C ompleting two academic courses with an applied ethics emphasis from an approved list. Students pursuing science-related or philosophy majors might complete courses in bioethics or environmental ethics while other students might add an ethics-enhanced unit to the History of American Diplomacy or Environmental Sociology. 2) “ Ethicizing” a work, service or leadership experience of at least one semester with further readings, interviewing or research that includes reflection, writing and presentations. These experiences might come in the form of an internship or immersion experience, highlevel campus job or other leadership role. This opportunity offers significant promise for further, thoughtful development of leadership with integrity though participation in Berry’s signature student work experience program.
■ C ecil B. Wright III Integrity in Leadership
Lecture Series
The most public component of the Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership is a lecture series that brings in at least one speaker per semester for an evening presentation preceded, whenever possible, by a dinner with students and special guests and followed by a half-day of classroom visits. Launched in 2016 with Harvard public leadership expert Dr. Barbara Kellerman as the inaugural speaker, this lecture series next tapped Aflac CEO and nationally acclaimed leader in business ethics Dan Amos. The series is named for Berry alumnus and trustee Cecil B. “Buster” Wright III (73C), honoring his role as a force behind the BCIL and its mentoring program, his financial commitments, and his personal character.
Harvard University’s Dr. Barbara Kellerman was the inaugural speaker in the Cecil B. Wright III Integrity in Leadership Lecture Series.
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On the Drawing Board We have exciting plans for further cultivating integrity in all students regardless of major or the capacity in which they choose to lead. The following are awaiting donor support. â– BCIL Directorship Endowment The growth and success of the Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership has made this position a pressing need. Once funded, the director will lead BCIL efforts in academicprogram expansion, student and faculty research, integration with student work opportunities, attracting campus speakers of magnitude, developing executives/ ethicists-in-residence programming, and further expanding our distinctive integrity in leadership mentoring program. Envisioned as a faculty appointment reporting to the provost, the director will be a leadership thought leader who also teaches classes, seminars and short courses on ethics and leadership. The college will add operating funds to the income generated by the endowment.
■Integrity in Leadership Faculty Development Funds Developing and refining the qualities of leadership and integrity in students of all majors requires building these concepts into the curriculum of all disciplines. Ideally upon graduation, an art major will be as prepared for ethical challenges in his or her workplace and world as is an accounting or animal science major. Berry’s Center for Integrity in Leadership will facilitate this process by
encouraging faculty members to develop new courses focused on ethical leadership and to integrate ethics development into existing ones. Faculty members will have the opportunity to apply for grants of $2,500 to $5,000 to build totally new courses and smaller grants to attend training programs on teaching integrity in leadership. These funds will be made available through individually named endowed funds created by donors. The Ted Owens Faculty Development Fund is our first; much more support is needed.
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■ Integrity in Leadership Executives/Ethicists-in-
■ Integrity in Leadership
Residence Program
Faculty and Staff Leadership Academy
The opportunities are as broad as the skills and creativity of the leaders invited to share insights with our students. A working Executive or Ethicist in Residence might spend an intense two- or three-week period on campus or give us several learning-packed weekends; one that is retired might serve for a full semester. Possibilities include teaching a specific class and writing case studies for use in the mentoring program. Particularly appealing is a onehour, deep-dive weekend course that includes pre- and post-work for our students that culminates in an oral or written report.
We envision 10 of our most promising faculty and staff members participating annually in a yearlong mentoring/ training experience designed to help them develop as college leaders. Not only will this training assist Berry in “growing our own” future leaders, but it also will help ensure the continuation of Berry’s mission-based brand of ethical leadership. The Kathy Brittain Richardson Faculty and Staff Leadership Fund, which honors the former Berry provost and current president of Westminster College, has been established to support the initiatives.
■ Integrity in Leadership Student Funds Internships, conferences, international experiences and other off-campus activities offer students unique opportunities to broaden their understanding and enhance their application of individual integrity in leadership. But they come with a cost that many students can’t absorb. Berry’s Center for Integrity in Leadership will make grants available to students who identify these leadership learning opportunities and apply for assistance to participate. These funds will be made available through individually named endowed funds created by donors.
For information on supporting the Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership, please contact Scott Breithaupt, assistant vice president for campaign and leadership giving, at sbreithaupt@berry.edu or 706-238-5897. www.berry.edu/integrity
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For Rachel LeRoy (15C), focusing intentionally on leadership as a student at Berry was like seeing clearly for the first time. “Those who remember their first pair of glasses will understand the giddy feeling of recognizing each blade of grass,” she said. “The same is true for my experience in the Carper Mentoring Program. I realized that leadership isn’t always obvious, but that it’s both vital and fulfilling to wield it with grace and empathy.” A varsity athlete and student enterprise director at Berry, LeRoy was no stranger to leadership roles. Yet the BCIL mentoring program provided needed clarity for the marketing major now pursuing a master’s degree in human-computer interaction at Georgia Tech. Mentors Anne Kaiser, a Georgia Power vice president, and Cecil B. Wright III (73C), retired senior managing director of Wells Fargo Advisors, helped her both understand the larger landscape and figure out where she fit. “Anne opened me up to a world of creativity and design and pushed me to think about the larger picture of business ethics,” LeRoy said. “Buster encouraged me to look inside and do a thorough soul search, helping me understand who I am and why – as well as what that means for my life moving forward and how I can use this identity as a catalyst for change and leadership.”
Berry students graduate... ready to work – now. ready to learn – more. ready to serve – always.
P.O. Box 490069 Mount Berry, GA 30149-0069 706.236.2253 or 877.461.0039 FAX 706.236.1700 www.berry.edu/LifeReady