Leading by example at Emporia State
President Michael R. Lane and Dr. Peggy Lane created a new scholarship program for student leaders at ESU.
Motivated by the “sense of awe” they have seen in students who experience other cultures, President Michael Lane and Dr. Peggy Lane have created a new scholarship program for student leaders at Emporia State University.
The Presidential Leadership Program is slated to begin in the fall of 2008, assuming sufficient additional funds are raised, with a class of 10 incoming freshmen who have graduated from Kansas high schools with records of academic excellence and leadership. The Lanes will travel with the new students and a faculty member, preferably going overseas, before classes begin in the students’ freshmen year, and then oversee a year-long leadership training program for the students. Each student will receive a $1,000 scholarship for the year.
The Lanes, who arrived at ESU about six months ago, have traveled with students from their previous universities on international trips, in Russia and in Eastern Europe. Even in a three-week trip, students change. “They grow. They become different. Their perspective on life changes,” President Lane said.
The president’s words perfectly describe the point of higher education. In their travels, Dr. Peggy Lane has seen students grasp “an appreciation for the world as being larger and smaller,” she said – larger, in that some students have yet to leave their home states, and smaller, in that people of all nationalities are very much alike. The students grasp a “sense of awe, of opening their eyes,” Dr. Lane said. “It was great for us to see them in that environment, to begin to grow, to reach out to people of other countries.
“The more we’ve traveled, the more our world has become smaller and less frightening,” she continued. “Your mind opens to the possibilities. Your mind opens to a sense of acceptance and openness to other people.”
The incoming freshmen will return to ESU with a new world view, leading into the leadership program. The program will consist of about 10 sessions on leadership in community, government, industry, and non-profit organizations; and on conflict management, strategic direction, and more. The Lanes hope to see the group bond and grow together during their college careers, and then assume leadership roles in campus organizations and community service.
The Lanes are establishing an endowment to begin the program, and are confident they can raise funds for the traveling portion of the program before the fall of 2008 – although they both agreed that they can’t put a price on seeing in students’ eyes the “sense of awe.”
Last Updated July 2, 2007>