LESSONS IN
OMNIA
Global Leadership Fox Leadership International celebrates five years of shaping the next generation of global problem-solvers. By Ava R. DiFabritiis Photos courtesy of Joe Tierney
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nergy development, extreme poverty, environmental protection: Major global problems like these may seem insurmountable given their complexity and scale. Can any one person truly effect change?
“‘Light a single candle rather than curse the darkness’ is the right response. But we want you to learn how to build the electric company,” says John DiIulio, Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society and Founding Director of Fox Leadership International (FLI). In the five years since its inception, FLI has prepared hundreds of students for roles as effective leaders who work to advance human well-being. FLI programming builds aptitude for global leadership and problem-solving 50
through classroom training and on-the-ground experience, including international fellowships and cultural immersion trips. The program originated as an offshoot of Penn Arts & Sciences’ hub of leadership education, the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program. In 2014, a gift from namesake benefactors Robert A. Fox, C’52, and Penny Grossman Fox, Ed’53 enabled Fox Leadership to expand its reach beyond U.S. borders. In the tradition of its forerunner, FLI aspires to help students discover their passions and harness them to address the world’s challenges. “Fox Leadership International expands the reach and influence of leadership education. Our students receive globally minded training and, through a combination of classroom learning and fellowships, have
the opportunity to effect real change,” says Steven J. Fluharty, Dean and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. While FLI programming encompasses a broad range of countries, China is the focal point. This emphasis not only capitalizes on Penn’s growing engagement with China, but enables students to study one of the world’s most influential nations. DiIulio views China as a “pedagogical goldmine” for teaching students how to contribute and serve in any environment, given its massive population and rapid pace of development. “Here was an opportunity to use our leadership and problem-solving approach in a completely different context with a completely different political, economic, and social
system,” he says. “Yet so many of their problems—environmental, eldercare, traffic congestion, on and on and on—are not radically different from problems you find everywhere else.” Through the efforts of over 50 staff, faculty, and affiliates from Penn and beyond, FLI has become a powerhouse of global civic impact. More than 100 Penn students and alumni have traveled to 15 countries through FLI fellowships. The annual Global Leadership and Problem-Solving summer program for Chinese college students has doubled in size and become a model for U.S.–China cultural exchange. And to kick off FLI’s fifth year, the team developed its first degree-granting program, an International Master of Public Administration
