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The Evolving Dream
The James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership grew out of one individual’s passion for supporting the development of a new leadership generation, a passion that generated support from many others. After serving in the Carter administration, Georgia Sorenson thought deeply about how she could continue contributing to the creation of a more just society. Her vision resulted in the creation of the Academy and the many other programs it has inspired or generated. The mission she and her colleagues established with inspiration from the work of James MacGregor Burns, which still guides the Academy today, is “to foster leadership excellence through scholarship and education, with special attention to advancing the leadership of groups historically underrepresented in public life.”
The current director, Carol S. Pearson (who as director of the University of Maryland Women’s Studies Program provided space and support for the Academy at its inception) and our faculty and staff—including Drs. Burns and Sorenson—remain committed to this vision. In its service, we promote scholarship and educational services that help leaders and leadership teams balance a sense of personal calling and organizational mission with a concern for, and understanding of, the common good. We therefore focus not only on leadership knowledge and structures, but also on the inner side of leadership—character, consciousness, self-awareness, and personal mastery. Equally important, we seek to promote a deeper understanding of human diversity, group processes and dynamics, change processes, and larger social systems, including organizations, movements, and networks.
A History of Accomplishment
Established in 1981 as the Maryland Project for Women and Politics, the Academy began as an innovative university-based effort focused on training women to serve as elected officials. Its mandate quickly expanded to include all those who historically have been underrepresented in public leadership, and from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s it enjoyed rapid growth as the Center for Political Leadership and Participation. As its reputation and resources grew, the Center’s projects expanded beyond public leadership and participation to include a broad diversity of initiatives focused on leadership education, service, and scholarship. In 1997, it was renamed the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership. The initial dream has become a reality.
For almost thirty years, the Academy has helped to lay the foundation for the interdisciplinary field of leadership studies, assisted in building a national movement for lifelong leadership education, and prepared thousands of people of all ages to assume leadership in all aspects of their lives and careers. Through research, programs, publications, its operation of the International Leadership Association, and a web site that receives more than one million hits each month, the Academy has reached millions of people.
Historical Milestones
Milestone achievements for the Academy include:
- developing the foundational theory, research, and curricula for the interdisciplinary field of leadership studies
- seeding national and international movements for leadership education and providing technical support and guidance to newly established leadership institutes and centers through the world, including Africa and Eastern Europe
- launching—and continuing to provide a home to—the first international professional organization for those who study, practice and teach leadership: the International Leadership Association
- preparing thousands of people to develop leadership skills to improve aspects of their lives, communities, and careers
- amplifying, through tailored programs, the leadership effectiveness of elected and appointed government officials
- establishing the Lucille Maurer Leadership Library, which is fully dedicated to leadership publications and includes the personal collections of Drs. James MacGregor Burns and Hank Sims and the Maurer’s archives
- building an award-winning web site to disseminate research, scholarship, and resources globally
We Could Not Have Done It Without You
The Academy’s history of achievement has been directly attributable to the institutional support it has received from special allocations from the Maryland General Assembly and the United States Congress, as well as to supportive homes within the University of Maryland, first in the Women’s Studies Program, then in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and now in the School of Public Policy. In addition, the Academy has benefited greatly from the generosity of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the (freestanding and independent) Academy of Leadership Foundation, and many other foundations and individuals.
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