Making Leadership Great Again: Breakthrough Educational Models
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Session Description
Many young people today are eager to tackle the local, national, and global challenges standing in the way of a sustainable, prosperous, and just world but find that their educational experience doesn’t prepare them for the kind of leadership they aspire to. We’ll explore two cutting-edge approaches based on student-centered, experiential learning. These programs are flipping the script, emphasizing experience and responsibility as vehicles to build the character and capabilities required of ethical, innovative, purpose-driven leaders.
Time & Location
Time:
1:30 PM - 2:45 PM, Thursday, April 6, 2017
BST
Location:
Rhodes Trust Lecture Theatre
Speakers
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Speaker
Former President, EARTH University
José A. Zaglul is the former President (1987–2016) of EARTH University, an international, private, non-profit institution located in Costa Rica’s humid tropics. EARTH is dedicated to the formation of leaders with ethical values who will contribute to sustainable development and to the construction of a prosperous and just society.
As the founding president of the University, Dr. Zaglul had a leading role in shaping the institution’s philosophy and strategic vision and provided the continuous leadership necessary for this innovative institution’s success. EARTH University offers a unique educational environment that encourages the development of responsible leadership based on values, social commitment, environmental consciousness, academic excellence, and an entrepreneurial and enterprising spirit.
Under his leadership, EARTH graduated more than 2100 students from 39 countries, who are now spread around the world, transforming their own dreams and making EARTH’s mission a reality every day.
Dr. Zaglul holds a PhD in Animal Science from the University of Florida. In addition, he obtained an M.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Florida and an M.S.in Animal Science from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He has been awarded Honorary Doctor degrees from the Chatham University of Pittsburg (2010), the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (2011), the California Polytechnic State University (2016) and the Center for Tropical Agriculture Research and Education (2016).
As a family man, Dr. Zaglul professes special admiration for his Lebanese ancestors and for his migrant parents, who built their home in the small community of San Ramón, in Costa Rica, where Jose and his siblings grew up and received their primary and secondary education. He is married to Rosario Ruiz; they have three children, Joumana, Samir and Layla, and two grandchildren, Lucia and Gabriel, from Joumana and her husband Erick.
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Speaker
Student, EARTH University
José Carlos Rodríguez Mejías 29 years old
Grew up in the countryside of Costa Rica in a small town called Hojancha, Guanacaste. Surrounded by forest, timber plantation, coffee plantation and small livestock activities. He Comes from a family dedicated to timber plantations and forest conservation as support activities, his mother worked in education in a local high school, and his father in the forestry department of the government. José got a bachelor’s degree in business administration from ITCR (Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica), worked as financial adviser in a small farmers association in his town, working with them he found his passion for agriculture and rural development. Currently he is in his fourth year of agriculture sciences at EARTH University, during his 3 first years he was part of a team that planed, operated, and evaluated a business project about marmalades and dehydrated fruit, using discard fruit from export companies. With his family he has started a agro ecological reserve and a foundation dedicated to improve agriculture in his region.
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Speaker
MBA Student, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Jihad is a graduate of the African Leadership Academy, and has been working on areas of social impact in Africa and the Middle East for the past five years. Her experience ranges from high-level interaction and fundraising with international organisms such as the United Nations Academic Impact, the British Council, and the World Economic Forum, to grassroots training and facilitation with youth and women in Morocco and the United States. In her capacity as a consultant at Dalberg in Johannesburg, Dakar, and Abu Dhabi, Jihad worked on areas ranging from strategy to private sector investments to youth unemployment. Outside of work and school, Jihad is the co-founder and advisor of Rabat Entrepreneurial Challenge, a Moroccan NGO that tackles youth unemployment through entrepreneurship education.
Jihad holds a B.A in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College in the US, and is currently pursuing her MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Before her B.A, Jihad was trained in South Africa at the African Leadership Academy for two years, where she gained invaluable exposure to the world of social entrepreneurship.
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Moderator
Director, Stanford University
Debra is focused on achieving a more just and sustainable economic system through collaborative action, human centered design and transformational systems change. She serves on the Boards of the Skoll Foundation, B Lab, IDEO.org, Imperative 21 and the global advisory boards of the African Leadership University and the Wellbeing project. She also works as an advisor to social ventures around the world.
Pre-Covid, Debra was a faculty member at Stanford University's d.school where she co-founded the FEED (Food Entrepreneurship, Education and Design) Collaborative.
Pre-Stanford, Debra was a business executive at Hewlett Packard where the common threads in her broad, 22-year career were driving large scale change, creating new businesses and producing positive social impact and good business results concurrently.
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Speaker
CEO, African Leadership Academy, African Leadership Academy
Chris Bradford is driven to build transformational educational institutions. Over the past seventeen years, Chris has guided the development of African Leadership Academy. African Leadership Academy seeks to transform Africa by identifying, developing, and connecting the continent’s future leaders. Today, his work includes the development of the Anzisha Education Accelerator, which invests in high potential school founders across Africa who are building great schools that empower children to maximize their potential and communities to reimagine the possible.
Chris seeks to build strong organizations that transform societies by empowering individuals to reimagine what is possible for themselves and their communities. He relishes the process of institution building: ensuring that organizations are built to last and thrive beyond their founders.
Prior to ALA, Chris co-founded Terra Education and worked at organizations including Procter and Gamble, BCG, and the Broad Foundation. He also worked as a teacher at Oundle School, a boarding school in England. Chris is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford University (MBA, MA Education).
