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Political Leadership
Ninth annual Cline Symposium debates the transformative role of leadership in democratic societies.
April 1-2, 2004
Illini Union
Leaders shape history by transforming followers into leaders. This controversial claim by Pulitzer Prize-winning political scientist James MacGregor Burns will be the subject of debate this April when Burns visits U of I as this year's Cline Symposium keynote speaker. His talk will kick off two days of lively discussion on the democratic challenges and ethical dilemmas of leadership.
The Cline Symposium is the capstone of a semester-long seminar course for upper classmen in the Department of Political Science that focuses on the role and importance on values in public life. Previous topics have included globalization, terrorism, and wealth and democracy. The symposium is named after Richard G. and Carole J. Cline, who donated funds for the annual event.
The two-day symposium consists of the keynote address, which is by a prominent national figure whose writings are part of the curricula for the semester. There are also forums, roundtables, and small-group discussions. For the latter, students display their mastery of the subject matter when they are asked, as groups, to resolve or debate a key issue related to the topic. These popular discussions are led by alumni of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who have expertise on the topic under analysis. Marilyn Lunnemann, an accountant and a founding principal of Humes & Barrington, was a group leader last year. She says she was "blown away by the level of discussion, the passion, and the knowledge" of the students. The topic was social security.
The Cline Symposium has become a popular and prestigious fixture on the Urbana campus since it was first held in 1995. It is a model of how alumni can enrich and be enriched by involvement in their alma mater.
March 2004
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