Lighting the way: A new institute at Weatherhead School of Management aims to develop leaders across disciplines

At some point—regardless of a student’s discipline—leadership will almost certainly become part of their professional lives. That premise underlies the new Celia Scott Weatherhead Leadership Institute at Case Western Reserve, a university-wide initiative designed to help students develop and use leadership skills in the community. 

Launched with a $25 million gift from the Weatherhead Foundation, the institute is based at Weatherhead School of Management and will welcome students from across the university. Programming is expected to begin this fall, with the first undergraduate cohort starting in fall 2027. The underlying belief is that leadership is a skill that should be learned, practiced and tested in the real world.

“This institute is about giving students the kind of early, supported experience most professionals never get,” said Scott Cowen, DBA (HON ’11), the institute’s inaugural board chair and a CWRU trustee. Cowen was CWRU’s interim president amid the COVID-19 pandemic, previously served as the Weatherhead School dean and led Tulane University through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. 

In the institute’s flagship undergraduate program, students will move through a four-year sequence—separate from their majors—that blends studies on leadership with hands-on experiences working with companies, nonprofits and community organizations to solve problems. By senior year, they will mentor incoming students.

“It’s about giving them a strong foundation along with repeated opportunities to lead and learn from their experiences,” said Andrew Medvedev (CWR ’97), dean of the Weatherhead School and the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Management.

The Weatherhead School is a fitting home for the new institute, given its decades-long international reputation for innovation, experience-based learning and breakthrough management research. 

The institute significantly expands an approach that’s already seen success at CWRU through the President’s Leadership Development Program. Students in that pilot cohort will graduate in May after taking leadership courses and gaining practical experience. 

Building on that foundation, the new institute scales the model as an initiative for all CWRU students. 

“Leadership is no longer about what you know; it’s about how you think, the decisions you make, and how you bring others with you to make real impact,” said Jen Halliday, the institute’s recently hired executive director, who previously held leadership posts in K-12 and higher education, and nonprofits.

For Celia Weatherhead, president of the Weatherhead Foundation and a university emerita trustee, the institute continues a decades-long commitment to leadership development at CWRU. It’s a commitment that began with a gift her late husband, Albert J. Weatherhead III, and the Weatherhead Foundation made in 1979 to CWRU’s management school, which a year later was renamed the Weatherhead School.

“Al and I always believed that great institutions help develop great leaders,” she said. “Case Western Reserve has demonstrated that commitment for decades. Supporting this next chapter is a way to invest in students who will shape the future of their professions and communities.”

Ultimately, the institute’s enduring value will be measured in how its alumni serve others and solve problems long after graduation.

“Our goal is to prepare students for the kind of leadership that lasts over a lifetime,” Medvedev said.