Leadership Lessons from the Slowest Person on Track at CSUF
Preview:
A first-generation college student and recruited athlete at Cal State Fullerton in the 1980s, Lewis & Clark President Robin Holmes-Sullivan found her leadership formation in two unexpected places: the basketball court and the campus track, where university president Jewel Plummer Cobb ran her daily laps as the slowest person circling it. Cobb, a pioneering scientist and the first Black woman to lead a college west of the Mississippi, modeled something more valuable than speed: steady, unapologetic forward motion. Holmes-Sullivan carries that lesson into her own presidency, the first held by a Black woman in Lewis & Clark's 155-year history, as equity programs face growing political opposition.
Originally published: March 26, 2026
Author: Robin H. Holmes-Sullivan
Position: President
Institution: Lewis & Clark College
Published by: The EDU Ledger