Duke's Center of Leadership & Ethics Names Directors, Faculty

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership & Ethics (COLE) at Duke University has named its two faculty directors, managing director, eight center scholars, first visiting scholar, 26 student leadership fellows and two executives-in-residence that include Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

COLE has also scheduled the third annual Coach K & Fuqua School of Business Conference on Leadership for Oct. 18-20.

Announced last October, COLE is based at Fuqua and is managed in collaboration with the Duke Athletics Department and the Kenan Institute of Ethics. About $5.5 million has been raised toward a goal of $8 million to $10 million to fund the interdisciplinary center of research and education. Additional donations are being sought.

"Although we have only officially been open for business for a few months, we have already been able to establish a number of programs and involve an impressive array of faculty, students and business leaders in our efforts," said Faculty Director Sim Sitkin, a Fuqua management professor. "We are well on our way to being able to achieve our goal of influencing the way students, academics, corporations,  governments and non-profits think about, learn about and practice leadership and ethics."

Joining Sitkin as faculty director is Allan Lind, the Thomas A. Finch Professor of Business Administration in Management. The managing director and senior research associate is Sanyin Siang, a Fuqua MBA graduate who previously was with Duke's Teradata Center for Customer Relationship Management.

Other appointments include Krzyzewski and Rex Adams as COLE executives-in-residence for leadership and ethics. Adams is the former dean of Fuqua and teaches an elective course each spring on ethics in business. Krzyzewski will teach and write on leadership issues during the basketball off-season.

Center scholars named to one-year terms include professors John Cady, Gerardine DeSanctis, Joel Huber, Rick Larrick, Will Mitchell, John Payne, Kimberly Wade-Benzoni, Sitkin and Lind.

COLE is also bringing visiting scholars to Duke. For the 2004 academic year, Neal Ashkanasy, a professor of management at the University of Queensland, Australia, will be at Duke. Askanasy is an expert on the role of emotions in leadership and business ethics.

Twenty-six rising second-year students have been named COLE leaderships fellows, Sitkin said, to support COLE's research, education and outreach objectives. Fellows will provide guidance to incoming first-year students on team leadership and dynamics issues.

COLE will also work closely with existing groups on campus, including the student-run Leadership Development Initiative (LDI), which provides leadership-related extracurricular activities for the Daytime MBA students. "Our students are not only receiving a leadership education, but also are helping to shape their learning both inside and outside the classroom," Stikin said. "This is a critical strength Fuqua has as we build our leadership and ethics curriculum."

On April 23, the LDI will hold its third annual conference on leadership, which typically draws more than 200 students and visitors. Keynote speakers will be Robert Lutz, vice chairman for product development at General Motors, and William Campbell, president of Discovery Networks U.S.

The Coach K & Fuqua School of Business Conference on Leadership Oct. 18-20 has announced two confirmed speakers: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole and NPR Public Radio CEO Kevin Klose.

Also this fall, Sitkin said, COLE will begin sponsoring research into leadership and ethics, publishing case studies and research papers, and hosting workshops.