The inaugural class for the Master's of Leadership Studies begins its course of study in January, 2002. When the Jepson School was established in the Fall of 1988, its primary mission was to offer an undergraduate major in leadership studies. At the time of the founding of the Jepson School, the decision was made to defer consideration of a graduate program until the new undergraduate curriculum had been developed and proven. In 2000, six years after the first leadership class graduated from the university, the undergraduate program is strong, and reactions from employers and graduate schools to Jepson graduates have been positive. The scholarly reputation of the faculty is strong and growing.
Undergraduate students are highly successful in obtaining employment.
In brief, graduates have been recruited and hired by employers from many different sectors, thus demonstrating that their knowledge and skills are highly valued in a wide variety of settings. More about Jepson's undergraduate students. Students have been accepted into programs at universities including John Hopkins, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Harvard, and the University of California, among other prestigious educational institutions. Although, until recently, the faculty in the Jepson School have been intensively involved in developing courses to establish an innovative curriculum that has become a model for other programs in the country, they have also been a visible, highly productive group of scholars. Among other things, the faculty have organized national leadership studies conferences, authored scholarly books and texts related to leadership studies, published numerous articles about leadership issues in prestigious journals in a variety of fields, and are currently preparing to organize an annual series of leadership research symposia to be held at the University.