Leadership at Goizueta Gets a Lift Thanks to Delta Gift

A $3.5 million gift from The Delta Air Lines Foundation to Emory’s Goizueta Business School will endow the Delta Leadership Coaching Fellows Program, an experiential and peer-to-peer education initiative, the school recently announced.

A portion of the gift will also go toward the creation of the Delta Leadership Hub, a teaching and reception space at the school. According to Goizueta administrators, the gift will allow the school to serve more students, expand coaching opportunities and increase interaction among leaders.

“As a top-20, but small, business school our relationship with industry has historically centered primarily on recruiting relationships,” said Erika James, the John H. Harland Dean of Goizueta Business School. “With Delta’s support, we have more opportunities to create meaningful experiences for our Evening and Full-Time MBA students.”

While all MBA students receive leadership training at Goizueta, Full-Time and Evening MBA students can apply to become coaching fellows for additional instruction and chances to practice more interpersonal leadership skills.

Coaching fellows receive instruction in behavioral, relational, cognitive and emotional tools. The program is anchored on academic, experiential and reflection learning. Fellows complete workshops beyond the MBA curriculum, practicum experiences and have one-on-one sessions with executive coaches.

“Roberto Goizueta once said, ‘Leadership is one of the things you cannot delegate. You either exercise it, or you abdicate it,’” said Ken Keen, Associate Dean of Leadership Development. “We seek to provide students as many opportunities as possible to exercise leader skills, receive feedback, reflect on those opportunities and grow as leaders. The fellows program is one of those unique opportunities.”