The highly talked about Leadership Studies Program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University made history on Saturday, May 10, when seven doctoral candidates walked across the stage to receive their doctoral degrees.

The first graduates of the Leadership Studies Program are: Jacqueline L. Greenlee, Tonya R. Hargett, Marjorie Jenkins, Harvey L. Lineberry, Cheryl Nicholas, Gladys Ashe Robinson and Charles E. Wilson.

Greenlee, a native of Atlanta, Ga., holds a bachelor's degree in nursing from N.C. A&T and master's degrees in Adult Education and Industrial Technology, both from A&T. Her dissertation topic was “Lessons of Experience for Community College Leaders.” Greenlee is currently the director of Organizational Development at Guilford Technical Community College.

Hargett, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., living in High Point is a graduate of A&T. Her dissertation topic was "The Effects of Physical Crowding on Job Satisfaction in Laboratory Animal Technicians." She is currently a training coordinator in the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jenkins received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1985 and a master's degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1987. Her dissertation topic was "Satisfaction and Service: A Study of Servant Leadership, Role Inversion and Employee Job Satisfaction. Jenkins is currently a director with Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro.

Lineberry grew up in Saxapahaw, a small rural mill-village in Southern Alamance County, N.C. His dissertation topic was "Change Agent States in the Land-Grant Universities: Changing a System - Impacting a Nation." He is currently employed by N.C. State University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as the assistant dean for personnel.

Nichols, a native of Aruba, Netherland Antilles, attended the State University of New York at Buffalo and earned her undergraduate degree. Her dissertation topic was “Responding to Fiscal and Societal Imperatives: Comparison of Leader Skills and Perspectives in Nonprofit and For-profit Organizations in the United States .” She is currently the CEO and director of InnerVision, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Mecklenburg County.

Robinson, a native of Columbus, Ga., currently resides in Pleasant Garden , N.C. Among her many community involvements, Robinson currently serves on the University of North Carolina, Board of Governors. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Bennett College and a master's degree in education from A&T . Her dissertation topic was " Capacity Building in a Third World Country: Toward a Relational Model for Supporting and Sustaining Change.” She is currently the executive director of Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency.

Wilson, a native of Greenville, Ala., earned a master of divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky in 1984 and a bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University in 1974. His dissertation topic was "The Impact of International Service Experiences on Adult Development in Moral Reasoning and Cultural Intelligence.” He currently works as a guest services representative at Caraway Conference Center in Asheboro. His area of research interest is leader development.

Leadership Studies graduates were involved in the Center for Creative Leadership training and traveled abroad to Singapore, Ghana, Malawi, and Burma as part of their research projects.

"The program truly met its mission and that was to prepare leaders for tomorrow. These leaders, who graduated on May 10, represent the interdisciplinary approach to leadership. Their experiences cover the areas of nonprofit through corporate leadership and their internships have provided the application of leadership theories," said, Dr. Alexander Erwin, director of the Leadership Studies Program.

"This program has already attracted a great deal of attention from the community. It has attracted a diverse set of students in diverse occupations. Enrolled students have experiences as diverse as university administration, nursing, counseling, and business. The program is still young, only having been established in 2005. I see the program succeed in making an important contribution in the lives of our graduates and in enhancing their importance to the organizations that they serve," said Dr. William Craft, interim dean for the School of Graduate Studies.

"Quality leadership is key to the success of any organizational entity involving the collective cooperation of people to achieve a set of goals," he added. "In an increasingly global society, outstanding leaders and executives do understand that leadership is an important key to success. Our graduates learn important principles of leadership and participate in case studies as part of their educational preparation.

The leadership studies program is an interdisciplinary program designed for persons who desire positions of leadership in agriculture, business, industry, science, engineering, education, the military and medical fields, and who are interested and committed to conducting research in the field of Leadership Studies.

The program enhances students’ scholarship in the field of leadership and contributes to the accumulation of new knowledge through research and application in the study of leadership. It fosters a scholar/practitioner approach in the preparation of leaders. The mission is to expand the knowledge base of concepts and theories of leadership through application of research and experiences acquired in the program.