Dr. Barbara Kellerman, noted leadership scholar and published author, has been selected as the second F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership Studies. She will be on campus March 18 for a public lecture, “Leadership: A System—Not a Person.” The Festival of Ideas is co-sponsored by the WVU Nath Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series.

The lecture is 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballrooms and is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

“We look for someone who has practical leadership experience, research and/or teaching experience,” said Lisa DeFrank-Cole, director of the Leadership Studies program. “It’s always very exciting to hear from the author of one of our textbooks. She is someone we often reference in Leadership Studies courses.”

“Having her come to our campus as one of the founders of the International Leadership Association is really exciting. She has written about all aspects of the leadership system.”

Kellerman is the James MacGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She was the founding executive director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, from 2000 to 2003; and from 2003 to 2006 she served as research director.

She has also held professorships at Fordham University, Tufts University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, George Washington University, Uppsala University and Dartmouth College. She also served as dean of graduate studies and research at Fairleigh Dickinson, and as director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Leadership at the University of Maryland.

Kellerman speaks to audiences all over the world, including, in recent years, Berlin, London, Moscow, Rome, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, Zurich, St. Gallen, Jerusalem, Turin, Toronto, Montreal, Mumbai, New Dehli, Amsterdam and Kyoto. She serves, among other places, on the advisory board of the Brookings Institution Leadership Initiative.
She was ranked by Forbes.com as among “Top 50 Business Thinkers” (2009) and by Leadership Excellence in the top 15 of “thought leaders in management and leadership” (2008-09 and again in 2010-2011). In September, Stanford University published her most recent book, “Hard Times: Leadership in America.”

Kellerman earned her bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College, and her master’s degree (in Russian and East European Studies), M.Phil., and Ph.D. (1975, in political science) degrees from Yale University. She was awarded a Danforth Fellowship and three Fulbright fellowships.

She is author and editor of many books including “Leadership: Multidisciplinary Perspectives;” “The Political Presidency: Practice of Leadership;” “Bad Leadership;” “Followership;” “Women and Leadership;” “Essential Selections on Power, Authority, and Influence (2010);” and “The End of Leadership (2012).” “The End of Leadership” was long-listed by the Financial Times as among the Best Business Books of 2012, and selected by Choice as “essential” reading, its highest rating. It was also named by Choice as an “Outstanding Academic Title for 2013.” She has appeared often on media outlets such as CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, NPR, Reuters and BBC, and has contributed articles and reviews to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the Harvard Business Review.

In addition to her public lecture, Kellerman will address students enrolled in the leadership studies program in other private lectures on March 18 and 19.

The F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership Studies was endowed by the Board of Directors of the WVU Foundation 2007. The endowment honors former WVU Foundation President F. Duke Perry and benefits the Leadership Studies Program in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Perry led the nonprofit WVU Foundation from 1999 to 2006. During that time, he provided leadership and direction that produced over $900 million in private and corporate gifts to support the mission of West Virginia University.

For more information about the event, please contact Lisa DeFrank-Cole at lisa.defrank-cole@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

Jm/3/13/15

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.