August 2015 Leadership Reflection

Leadership Reflection for August 2015

          August is here again, and that means the back-to-school stampede will soon be upon us. At this time of year, I’d like to share with you some leadership insights related to students, not only because my entire career path at the University of Illinois has dealt with student services of one kind or another, but also because I continue to be inspired, year in and year out, by the remarkable young people that I encounter through my work. Here is an essay, addressed to students in the ACES James Scholar Honors Program, that I extensively revised recently, encapsulating the core messages that I try to convey to our best and brightest Illinois students about life, leadership, and the future.

Cultivating Hope and Dreams in an Age of Uncertainty

By Rob Chappell

          As far back as I can remember, my frame of mind has been both hopeful and future-oriented. Ever since my childhood days in the 1970s, I have been enthralled by astronomy, spaceflight, and science fiction epics of humankind’s future achievements and adventures. How to build a sturdy bridge for humanity’s journey from the present day into a bright and hopeful future became a source of great interest for me during my undergraduate student days at the University of Illinois. As I studied the histories, languages, literatures, and philosophies of the ancient Greeks and Romans, I was constantly asking myself, “How can we apply all this ageless wisdom to build a better future for ourselves and our inheritors?”

Excerpt from “Locksley Hall” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,

Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade,

Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

Here about the beach I wandered, nourishing a youth sublime

With the fairy tales of science, and the long result of Time;

When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed;

When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed:

When I dipped into the future far as human eye could see;

Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.

          In the ensuing years, I have learned that the bridge we must walk across from the present to the future is built upon a solid foundation of hope and dreams, which are key ingredients in any recipe for personal, professional, and planetary growth. I have also discovered that working in the field of higher education is the best way for me to do my part in creating a brighter tomorrow for our world, our nation, and our families. My interactions with ACES James Scholars like you have shown me that there is indeed hope for the future, and I know that the future lives in your hearts and minds today as we press forward together to meet the challenges of the 21st century. All of you have taught me – by your example – that hope is a gift that keeps on giving if we take the time to share it with others.

“Hope” by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

          Hopes and dreams of a better world are being cultivated today by our ACES James Scholar alumni in their professional careers. For some, this might mean discovering an amazing new biofuel that could help humanity to set aside its dependence on fossil fuels once and for all. For others, it could be helping people to plan their retirement through sound financial management strategies. Still other alumni may become veterinarians, dietitians, ecologists, and so much more. Your dreams – when stirred together with hope and hard work, and left to simmer in the caldron of inspiration – have the potential to bring about real change in our world, or perhaps well beyond it! I recall talking with an aerospace engineering James Scholar several years ago about a new theory of ultra-fast starship propulsion that I had seen on the History Channel’s TV series, Universe. When I had finished describing it to her, I concluded by observing, “That’s the stuff that dreams are made of!” Her eyes lit up with excitement as she expressed her agreement with an enthusiastic smile. Then – expressing my own hopes and dreams, not only for the student, but also for humanity as a whole – I told her, “Emma, I can’t wait to see you build that starship someday!” J

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.”

à Helen Keller (1880-1968): Essay on Optimism (1903)

          Achieving anything truly worthwhile is never easy – but it is well worth the effort. Both triumphs and disasters lie ahead of us all on the highway of life. However, if we persevere to the end – even if we don’t achieve everything that we would like to accomplish in our lifetime – then at least we shall have paved the way for our inheritors to follow in our footsteps and finish the work that we have begun.

“For a life worthy to be lived is one that is full of active aspiration, for something higher and better; and such a contemplation of the world we call meliorism.”

à Paul Carus (1852-1919): Monism and Meliorism (1885)

          As you begin, continue, or finish your James-Scholarly journey in the College of ACES, I would like to encourage each and every one of you to cultivate your hopes and dreams and work hard to make them into living realities, so that future generations can look back on our era and say, “Those great achievements began at the University of Illinois!”

Excerpt from “Ulysses” (1842)

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, --

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.