What is leadership?

This is what I had to decide when I sat down to write this message. What I realized is that the conventional definition of leadership falls short. Leadership isn’t about authority, power, or control, nor is it something simply reflected in a job title. Rather, leadership is an attitude.

I believe there are many different ways to lead. All of us can be leaders. We can be a leader by simply recognizing talent, being an advocate, and stirring enthusiasm.

The University of Iowa College of Education has a long and distinguished history exemplifying these qualities of leadership. From its earliest beginnings, educational leadership has been a consistent mission. The University became the nation’s first public institution of higher education to admit women on an equal basis as men in 1855. The University created the nation’s first permanent college-level department of education in 1872. In 1907, the then School of Education established the first chair of pedagogy at a U.S. university.

We have continued this dynamic of leadership to this day by pioneering tests and testing procedures, building the most comprehensive gifted education and talent development center in the world, and creating the ePortfolio? concept that has become a ground-breaking evaluation model for teacher education students and professionals.

Our faculty and staff lead by example. They set the pace by providing solid training to our students, giving them the methods, skills, and mindset they need to be leaders in their professions and communities.

In turn, our alumni infuse their own students and clients with a sense of responsibility and an expectation of excellence that result in success.

Through this approach, we continue to create leaders with an attitude of confidence whose ideas make all missions possible.