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Illinois Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon is no stranger to the classroom. Having recently
completed a tour of Illinois community colleges, the former professor of law met with political
science students at NIU to discuss the importance of leadership in democracy.
It’s really a two-way street. It’s finding out where people want to go and urging them
to think about that in sometimes a more positive light, sometimes a more urgent light.
The purpose of the Leadership Development Seminar is to allow students who are doing
really well in the classroom, who have already started to become leaders, to really develop
their personal leadership model. So for the opportunity to hear someone like a Sheila
Simon, or a President Peters, I think that means a lot to students. I mean I can lecture
about leadership and leadership styles, to be able to sit down with somebody who is in
one of those important positions and really talk about leadership, I think that’s something
you can’t really replicate in the classroom. One of the advantages of the Leadership Seminar
is that we see different people from different disciplines coming in and talking. They all
have different styles. They all have different presentation styles. That says something about
their leadership. She’s very down to earth. She’s also somebody who has leadership in
a variety of backgrounds. She’s been an academic. She’s a law professor.
I’m always comfortable and at home on campuses, and I’m thrilled to be here at NIU and talking
to a group of student who are studying leadership. And of course I’m learning about them along
the way and learning about what you’re doing here at NIU and pleased to share that with
the rest of the state. One of the things that is exciting for me
is not only when students see things about what the speaker is saying that they kind
of latch on to, but when a speaker inspires them. That wasn’t necessarily the intention
of the talk, but I think a lot of students left inspired.