Donald and Winifred Wilson Center for Innovation & Leadership

Deqa Aden ’18, a political science and psychology major, was eager to talk to current students during a visit to campus in March, 2023, about using resources while at Grinnell College and forging an impact-driven career. The College’s resources and community helped her grapple with complex questions about “positive change” and influenced her trajectory. From jobs at multilateral organizations to small grass-roots enterprises, she learned life-changing insights during her search for a career that fit with her values and goals. Deqa is currently pursing a master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, where she is a Pearson Fellow, International House Fellow, and Obama Scholar.

From Once Upon a Time to Happily Ever After: Crafting Compelling Agency Rhetoric (storytelling for nonprofits) was led by Diane Marty ’92 in April, 2023. Marty is also teaching a short course this semester, WIL-101 Resourcing Social Change. 

Developing, Building, and Pitching your Business Idea was led by Sanjay Khanna ’85 in April, 2023. Khanna was also a mentor at hackGC this semester.

Build a Brand from Scratch was led by Katy Wells and Julie West in March, 2023. In fall 2023, Wells will teach a short course at Grinnell College on the foundational elements of a marketing campaign.

Starting a Nonprofit Organization was led by Alexander McLean in December, 2022.

Students, do you have a workshop topic you like to see the Wilson Center offer? Alumni, do you teach a workshop topic that you'd like to pitch to the Wilson Center for inclusion in future programming? Contact us at wilsoncenter@grinnell.edu. 

Three interactive talks by Tim Hurson highlighted ways to hone leadership skills and practice productive thinking. During Hurson’s two-day visit in fall 2022, he addressed first-year Tutorial classes to guide them in new mindsets to go “From Reactive to Creative,” led a mixed audience of campus members on the use of Leadership RADAR during the Scholar’s Convocation, had lunch with students, and gave a faculty/staff workshop on generative judgment (as part of the Community Friday series sponsored by the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment).