Nuala Pell Leadership Program Selects Fellows for 2016-2017
Newport, R.I. – Fourteen rising sophomores at Salve Regina University have been selected for an innovative leadership development program run by the Pell Center. Named in honor of the wife of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell, the Nuala Pell Leadership Program builds student leaders for the twenty-first century.
“In the first two years of the program, our student fellows have impressed us with their commitment, their desire to grow as leaders, and their potential to change the world,” said Chelsea Buffington, program director. “We expect great things from this year’s group, too.”
The 2016-2017 cohort of Nuala Pell Leadership Program fellows include:
- Toyosi Akanji, Chemistry, Cranston, RI
- Cassidy Chapman, Global Business, Douglas, MA
- Alexandra Correia, Administration of Justice, Fall River, MA
- Jacquelyn Cutts, Religious & Theological Studies and Philosophy, Anaheim, CA
- Daniel Donnelly, Chemistry, Portsmouth, RI
- Michaela Lacerra, Nursing, Marlborough, MA
- Evie O’Callaghan, Business Administration, Lancaster, United Kingdom
- Sydnee Odei-Ntiri, Cultural & Historic Preservation and History, New Haven, CT
- Tristen Perez, Administration of Justice, Framingham, MA
- Grayce Rogers, History, Osterville, MA
- Brian Schmidt, Nursing, Mansfield, MA
- Andrew Siaba, Financial Management, Natick, MA
- Kate Vitagliano, Psychology, Guilford, CT
- Kendall Wilcox, Administration of Justice, Pomfret, CT
The Nuala Pell Leadership Program includes monthly meetings where students engage in topics ranging from leadership theory and leadership ethics to managing change and vision mapping. Students meet with invited leaders to learn specific attributes of successful leaders. In 2016, Nuala Pell Leadership Fellows will travel to the nation’s capital where they will participate in group meetings with a wide variety of leaders and engage in team-building exercises. Each student will also shadow a local leader and participate in a service project, which they will design and implement over the course of the 2016-2017 academic year.
“Every year we meet a new group of students and we wonder, ‘how will they do?’” said Jim Ludes, Pell Center executive director. “Then, they surprise us. They dazzle us with innovation, with heart, with compassion, and with an instinctive sense of what it means to show and live Mercy. Last year, students were so moved by the people running the Advocacy Project in Washington, DC, that they organized an exhibit of quilts back in Newport to tell the stories of marginalized communities all over the world. This is the kind of impact Mrs. Pell knew our students could have. We’re humbled to continue her legacy.”