The Curtis and Sammon LSI Life of Service Scholarship creates opportunities to help social and public-sector leaders plot the next chapter of their leadership journey.
Geoff Curtis uses terms like “life changing” and “transformative” to describe his experience in the University of Chicago Leadership & Society Initiative (LSI).
Geoff joined the inaugural LSI cohort during the 2023-2024 academic year to explore his next chapter after an accomplished career in communications. The year-long fellowship experience expanded his horizons and helped clarify his vision.
He credits LSI with cultivating humility, empathy, and perspective-taking in a rich and distinct way. LSI helped Geoff create a purpose plan and, alongside his wife, Emily Sammon – a self-described “proxy member” of LSI given her husband’s enthusiasm for the program and their mutual interest in catalyzing positive social impact – develop the outline for a nonprofit organization. Geoff says the endeavor will help first-generation college students build meaningful and durable careers in the public relations and communications fields.
Now, Geoff and Emily are unlocking opportunities for other distinguished leaders to have the same powerful experience to activate next chapters of purposeful leadership.
The Curtis and Sammon LSI Life of Service Scholarship establishes an endowment to financially support LSI fellows, with a focus on candidates who have spent most of their careers working for nonprofits or government institutions.
For Geoff, who sees a growing movement toward advanced life learning and leaders eager to create impact beyond their careers, the LSI fellowship can play a powerful role in cultivating a generation of advanced social leaders and propelling thoughtful action.
“When you have experiences that touch you in a specific way, you’re inspired to give back so others can have similar experiences and find their own ways to bring their expertise and energy into the world,” Geoff says.
LSI is a prestigious fellowship designed for accomplished leaders seeking to determine their next chapter of impact. LSI activates advanced leadership skills and guides its fellows through a discernment process so they can leverage their insights, experiences, and passions to tackle some of contemporary society’s most pressing issues.
The Curtis and Sammon Scholarship aims to broaden participation in future LSI cohorts, ensuring the fellowship continues to attract visionary leaders from social and public-sector fields by reducing financial barriers to enrollment. It also positions LSI to bring the most promising candidates into its cohorts and to create a transformative learning process rooted in diverse lived experiences.
“By having distinguished leaders across sectors and geographies, we’ll benefit from a plurality of experiences, perspectives, and expertise that will enrich our learning community,” LSI director Diana Petty says. “Diversity is an essential building block for improved learning and necessary to achieving innovative understanding and breakthrough ideas.”
When the inaugural LSI cohort completed the fellowship in spring 2024, Geoff contributed to a class gift to fund scholarships aimed at broadening participation in the upstart program. Then, he and Emily, who share a passion for education, access, and equity, pledged additional support to enable an even more sustainable, diverse, and global experience.
“The inaugural cohort took ownership of the LSI experience and made meaningful investments to strengthen the learning process ahead, from strategy recommendations to ambassadorship to a first-ever class gift.” Diana says. “And it’s a testament to Geoff and Emily’s commitment to LSI’s mission that they choose to contribute even further and set up an endowment to make LSI accessible, which will enhance and enliven the learning environment for future LSI cohorts.”
Indeed, both Geoff and Emily see the potential in an untapped group of people who could benefit from the LSI fellowship and translate their LSI education into impact given their experience in nonprofit organizations, government agencies, schools, the military, and other public-sector entities.
“We both saw an opportunity to broaden perspectives and give others a chance to have the same kind of enriching experience Geoff had,” Emily says. “We wanted to pass that onto others.”
“LSI was an unbelievable experience and the perfect bridge into helping me have a bigger impact in the future,” Geoff adds. “Fellowships like LSI show people you can be purposeful with your next step, including taking the experiences and knowledge you have and focusing it in different ways for the betterment of society.”
Contact us to learn more about the Curtis and Sammon LSI Life of Service Scholarship.
Fellows in the Leadership and Society Initiative Imagine Pathway returned to Hyde Park for four days of rigorous inquiry, community, and deepening clarity about the next chapters they are working to shape.
The Leadership and Society Initiative welcomes two new team members, Michelle Argento and Kelly Morgan, who will strengthen recruitment and program operations as the Initiative continues to grow and expand opportunities for leaders pursuing purpose-driven next chapters.
Fellows returned to campus for four days of rigorous inquiry, renewed connection, and deepening clarity about the motivations and intentions for future leadership.