Articles and Insights

Furman University’s Center for Innovative Leadership has partnered with South Carolina Public Radio to launch “Leading Out Loud,” a new weekly radio and podcast series exploring the challenges, successes and lessons that come with leadership. Debuting Nov. 10, the four-minute segments are hosted by Garrett Stern, executive...Read more

By: Melissa Charles Improving community health starts with listening. Every three years, nonprofit hospitals in South Carolina conduct Community Health Needs Assessments to ask residents a fundamental question: What do you need to be healthier? Yet hospitals often collect community feedback using different surveys or methods that make it difficult...Read more

Trinity Williams wears many different hats as a graduate assistant at Furman’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). On any day, you’ll find her helping OLLI members register for classes or creating graphics and posters for an upcoming event, interspersed with occasional trips to keep the coffee bar...Read more

Every plant has challenges that never show up on a process map: the shift handoff that keeps breaking down, the new supervisor leading former peers, the project stalled between two departments. These are leadership problems.Read more

Organizations invest billions of dollars each year in leadership development, yet many programs fail to produce lasting behavioral change. The difference is rarely the quality of the curriculum. Exceptional leadership does not begin with strategy, influence or communication. It begins with self-awareness. Before leaders can effectively lead others, they must...Read more

Dr. Katrina Hutchins entered higher education by following her passion. After recognizing that people spend most of their lives at work, she launched a consulting company with a mission to help professionals thrive and experience true wellness in their daily work. Today, she brings that passion to Furman University, where...Read more

The M.A. in Advocacy and Social Policy (MAP) program takes learning beyond the classroom. Through practicum placements, students apply their knowledge alongside community partner organizations working in advocacy and social policy. Students spend six to eight hours weekly with partner organizations, applying classroom learning to real-world challenges...Read more

Fieldwork in Furman’s Master of Science in Community Engaged Medicine (MS-CEM) program offers students the opportunity to become embedded with a community-based partner working to advance health and well-being across a wide range of sectors. Students join a team in a defined role, gaining hands-on experience while...Read more

What Responsible Growth, Resilience and Sustainability Mean for South Carolina Communities South Carolina is now the fastest-growing state in the nation. The U.S. Census Bureau’s...Read more

My name is Jennifer Baskin, and my most recent teaching role was serving as a reading interventionist at Westcliffe Elementary in Greenville, SC. I have been teaching for fifteen years with many of those years spent as a reading interventionist and teaching kindergarten and first grade. As a teacher, I...Read more

With so many people passionate about sports and actively involved in them, Furman saw an opportunity to create the Sports Development and Community Partnerships graduate certificate to help leaders leverage sports as a force for engagement and change. “Sports is an important way that people can reach...Read more

Ask Dr. Al Mina what the M.S. in Community Engaged Medicine’s Anatomy and Physiology course is about, and he will tell you it’s not solely about memorization. The most important aspect is to understand the language first, then use it to understand how the...Read more

New Master of Science in Innovation and Leadership graduate Emme Buzhardt was selected by her classmates to speak on their behalf at the Graduate Studies Hooding Ceremony on August 14, 2026. To follow is Emme’s speech. Good evening and welcome. My name is Emme Buzhardt, and I am so humbled...Read more

This summer, I began seeing maps in my dreams. As part of my fellowship with the City of Travelers Rest, I dove headfirst into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to process, analyze, and visualize data. Even in my sleep, I drew measurements, tinkered with basemaps, and configured coordinates. Read more

When Furman University President Elizabeth Davis announced the public launch of Clearly Furman, the Campaign for Our Third Century, she said “This is Furman’s moment.” “Our moment to come together, to propel our university into its third century with clear vision and the resources to meet our enormous potential,”...Read more