At LSI orientation, Fellows take their first steps into activating their next chapter of purpose.
Socrates believed that “wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” At the University of Chicago’s Leadership and Society Initiative (LSI), Fellows begin their learning journey in an orientation that invites them to embrace a sense of wonder around their lives, leadership, and pursuit of a better world.
For Scott McLagan, a member of the inaugural LSI cohort, that sense of wonder began immediately. Relocating to Chicago from Denver with his wife, LSI Fellow Barbara Kreisman, Scott was excited to get going and meet the rest of the cohort. Fast-paced and jam packed with activities, LSI orientation laid a solid foundation for the life-changing nine months that followed.
“Orientation was the exciting first step and it only got better from there,” Scott says.
Meanwhile, Rita Huang Carroll recently completed orientation alongside 22 other LSI Fellows in the 2024-2025 cohort. Entering orientation nervous, she found immediate energy and enthusiasm. Meeting her peer Fellows who represented different parts of the world and arrived at LSI from careers in business, the military, academia, law, and the nonprofit space let her know she was not alone.
“I certainly left on Friday feeling better about where this experience might go,” Rita says of her five-day orientation experience in September 2024.
For fellows like Scott and Rita, LSI orientation kicks off a spirited and transformative learning journey. They both expressed leaving this opening to the Fellowship energized by the awaiting opportunities to deepen a sense of purpose and bring their future impact into focus.
After a 25-year corporate career, Scott swapped the c-suite for the classroom when he joined the faculty of the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. For 20 years, he taught courses in leadership and global business. Alongside Barbara, who similarly ventured from the corporate environment into academia, Scott developed a program on retirement with the university’s Enrichment Program.
“We both realized having purpose at this point in life was important and, yet, many struggled to find that,” Scott says.
He and Barbara were both selected to join LSI’s inaugural 20-person cohort. Unlike many of their peers, however, they entered the fellowship with a clear vision: to bring more substance to their retirement programming.
In contrast, Rita did not enter her LSI Fellowship this past September with the same defined vision. Having enjoyed a successful 27-year run in the financial services industry, she viewed LSI as an opportunity to perpetuate and elongate her own learning and develop a purpose-filled next chapter.
“As I saw my youngest child go through the college admissions process, I wanted to take advantage of education myself and see where I might go,” says Rita, who earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 1997.
LSI orientation demonstrates the value of leveraging the liberal arts education, from the Great Books to courses in psychology and sociology, to stimulate self-reflection and societal awareness. It provides an introduction into the University of Chicago ecosystem, including campus resources and a continuum of thought leadership from theory to practice. And it launches new relationships – within the cohort and with experts across the institution – later strengthened over conversation and shared experiences.
For Scott, LSI orientation in September 2023 launched a mind, heart, and eye-opening experience. He learned to truly listen to different points of view, gained a broader understanding of social impact, and developed a richer vision for how he could embark on his life’s next chapter.
“Right away, LSI opened my aperture in the way I was thinking about what Barbara and I wanted to accomplish and our Purpose Plan,” Scott says.
Rita describes LSI orientation as a well-curated and organized five days. She appreciated the breadth and depth of group discussions around early readings of Aristotle, Plato, and others. Hearing varied perspectives on complex texts, she was encouraged to critically reflect on and formulate her own viewpoints.
“I hadn’t been challenged in that way since I was a University of Chicago undergrad decades ago,” Rita says.
Scott compared his 2023 orientation to “drinking from a firehose.” Rita called it “exhausting but exhilarating.” Both, however, say orientation energized and inspired, introducing exciting new possibilities and igniting optimism. It delivered a significant opportunity for rigorous learning, self-reflection, and showed how earnest discussion around universal issues could spur individual purpose.
Now settled back into life in Colorado, Scott and Barbara are sharpening their “Retirement Reimagined” program, eager to help an ever-growing aging population to stay connected and active to support health outcomes, mentally, physically and emotionally.
“LSI set us on this more focused path,” Scott says.
Fresh into her journey, Rita is hoping she can follow a path similar to Scott and discern a clear purpose.
In her application essay for the LSI Fellowship, Rita noted her interest in economic equity and mobility. Though eager to be a change agent in this area, she admits uncertainty about how to make an impact. She says orientation provided hope that the LSI Fellowship will supply direction with its focus on self-discovery, global understanding, and envisioning the future.
“I’m excited to dive into a space I care deeply about and find clarity,” she says. “At the same time, I’m also going to give myself the grace of not knowing and the grace of allowing discovery and personal fulfillment to happen organically.”
Orientation was the energizing start, Rita reminds herself, and the best is yet to come.
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.