“Without good leaders, people may find the way to where they need to go. But a leader’s going to coalesce group thought and get people motivated and aligned to go in certain directions.”
Clay Jones’ words epitomize the goals of UT’s Center for Leadership and Service (JCLS), which officially opened its new location in the new Student Union this Friday at 3 p.m.
Students, alumni and faculty gathered in front of the location as it was dedicated to Clay and Debbie Jones, who donated $5 million to the center for enhanced programs and leadership initiatives.
Vincent Carilli, UT’s vice chancellor of Student Life, opened the event by reciting the JCLS’s history.
The new Student Union location originated in 2009 as a student suggestion, which desired a centralized place where campus organizations could base themselves.
This new location excited student assistant Grey Mangan, a sophomore in cinema studies.
“Previously, the JCLS was in Dunford (Hall),” Mangan said. “That’s really out of the way. You wouldn’t encounter it on your way to class or anything. I think having it in the Student Union is essential.”
Students weren’t the only ones attending in support. Campus faculty and staff were eager to throw in their hat with the Student Union.
“Having it right here in the SU makes it easy for student’s. If you’re just passing through and it’s something that you’re interested in, then you’ve got (JCLS) right here,” Director of Advancement for Annual Giving Lauren Herbstritt said. “You don’t have to go search for it. It’s not buried in a building somewhere like some other student services are.”
Carilli ended his opening by thanking Clay and Debbie Jones for their donation and giving the microphone to two other guest speakers, Dean of Students and Assistant Chancellor for Student Life Shea Kidd Houze and senior studying public administration Mustafa Ali-Smith.
Houze emphasized the Center’s role as a training ground for future student and world leaders. She hoped that the new location will encourage more student involvement.
Ali-Smith discussed how his involvement with the JCLS has aided his studies and university experience.
“Whenever I think about the Jones Center for Leadership and Service, I think about community. A home away from home,” Ali-Smith said. “I’ve learned that everybody can be a leader if they are cultivated in a communal environment that breeds learning, experience and overall growth.”
Clay Jones, the subject of the center’s dedication, agreed with Ali-Smith’s assessment of leadership when he was given the podium in the ceremony’s final moments.
“The leaders we have (in our country) are way too often worried more about their personal enrichment and their preservation of power than advancing the organizations they lead,” Jones said. “If you worry about your job as a leader, you’re the wrong leader, you’re a bad leader, or you’re both.”
Jones graduated UT with honors in 1971. After serving in the Air Force as a fighter pilot, the Torchbearer went on to become CEO of Rockwell International and Rockwell Collins Inc., as well as the president of UT’s Alumni Board of Directors.
He and his wife Debbie have an interest in leadership and service training. They believe that the country needs more effective and knowledgeable leaders, and wanted to support cultivation of such leadership on the campus they spent so much time with.
Though Jones spoke highly of campus leadership, citing improved campus infrastructure and increased research funding, he hopes that future student leaders can impact the many challenges the university faces.
“(UT) has challenges in its own leadership. It has challenges in diversity and inclusion that have been highly publicized. How we deal with that is going to be a function of adept our leaders are in guiding the university through those sometimes troubled waters,” Jones said.
The event was capped by the Jones’ cutting the JCLS’ ribbon, signifying a new era of student leadership and service.
