30 at 30: Stacy Leeds

Executive MBA – Strategic Leadership Class of 2010

Willard H. Pedrick Dean at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

In her high school years, Stacy Leeds had no intention of attending law school, much less earning her JD and becoming the first Indigenous, female law school dean. At the time, her sights were set on the basketball court.

“My plans were to go to undergrad and then become a high school history teacher and basketball coach,” Dean Leeds said. “I chose my undergraduate school based on where I was going to play basketball, and through that whole experience, I fell into Wash U. It was one of the first major steps in a long line of things that just sort of fell into place.”

A first-generation college graduate, the collegiate environment at Washington University in St. Louis opened her eyes to new possibilities, expanding her vision for the future, and inspiring new ideas of how she could employ her passions for history and leadership.

“On campus, I was surrounded by people who were just beginning their educational careers, and that led me to have a much bigger idea of what was possible,” said Leeds.

The Path to Professorship

After considering her options, Leeds ultimately decided to enroll in law school. Not only did this allow her to pursue her fascination with history and politics, but also to make an impact on the community where she had grown up.

A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Leeds recognized that few legal professionals specialized in Indian Law. She chose to enroll at the University of Tulsa, which has a Native American law program.

While she was in law school, two of Leeds’ faculty members saw her talent for communication and leadership and encouraged her to consider becoming a law professor.

It was a path Leeds hadn’t initially considered, but after further exploring the opportunity, she applied for and received the William H. Hastie Fellowship to attend a law teaching program at the University of Wisconsin.

Upon completing the program, Leeds became a sought-after law professor, earning teaching positions at the University of North Dakota and the University of Kansas.

Strategic Steps Toward Leadership

After 10 successful years as a law professor, Leeds found herself repeatedly being asked to serve on committees and administrative assignments. She recognized that her career was moving in the direction of higher education leadership, and she decided it was time to shore up her executive business acumen.

“It was an unusual path, because most law professors don’t choose to get additional degrees,” Leeds said. “But I felt like, if I was going to make that shift into higher education, then I needed to reinvent myself. That’s when I stumbled upon the program at Tennessee.”

In Leeds’ Executive MBA (EMBA) cohort, now called the Executive MBA – Strategic Leadership (EMBA-SL), she was one of two faculty members, and one of four individuals working with Native American tribes.

She enjoyed learning from her classmates who were doing related work, and she was also excited to learn from her classmates who worked in vastly different industries.

“Having three-fourths of the class be from backgrounds that I had no experience in was a really enriching part of the program,” Leeds said. “There were people from all walks of life and from different fields.”

Enriching Perspectives: The Faculty Experience

Leeds also had a unique perspective on the EMBA faculty, being a tenured faculty member herself while going through the program.

She noted how well the UT’s EMBA faculty walked the line between recognizing the cohort’s executive knowledge and sharing their own educational insights.

“I thought the faculty did a great job of being friends and peers to the executive students as appropriate, but also bringing their unique expertise to us,” Leeds said.

She explained that teaching to such a seasoned cohort might have been intimidating to some faculty members, but the UT educators seemed to view it as an exciting opportunity.

“I instantly learned a lot from the faculty, but also had the accessibility of feeling like they were our peers, as well, in a way you can’t accomplish in a traditional MBA program,” Leeds said.

Leading With Care

One of Leeds’ biggest EMBA takeaways was the importance of a ‘whole person’ approach to leadership. In 2010, when she went through the program, self-care in the workplace wasn’t as widely discussed as it is today. But in the program, the cohort learned that to be effective leaders to those around them, they needed to be mindful of their own well-being.

“It was the first time I’d heard, articulated well, the concept of being a whole person in your job,” Leeds explained. “All of us in the cohort tended to be ‘Type A’ personalities, but often, we left our own well-being in the dust. The faculty communicated that, if you’re going to advance to the next stage of leadership, you also need to advance your self-care. All of that resonated with me.”

This concept became especially important for Leeds shortly after graduating from the EMBA program, when she earned a role as dean at the University of Arkansas School of Law. An effective leader, she fostered a culture of innovation and continuous improvement built on supporting students, staff and faculty toward success.

EMBA Words of Wisdom

Today, Leeds serves as the dean of Arizona State University Law School, where she shepherds in the next generation of legal scholars. In advising rising leaders, she recalled the words a mentor said to her during her time at the University of Wisconsin.

“’We don’t always get to control the timing of our opportunities, but we can control how prepared we are when opportunities come to us,’” she recited. “Had I not had many of the lessons I learned in the EMBA program, I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the opportunity shortly after the program.”

For those considering UT’s Executive MBA – Strategic Leadership, with a smile, Leeds spoke of the close bonds she holds for the program and the school.

“You’d think that the shorter and more advanced a degree is, the less likely that people are going to have an affinity for the University,” Leeds said. “But whatever the ‘secret sauce’ is for this program, there’s almost a remarkable tie that graduates have to the University of Tennessee. Maybe it’s just part of the Vol Nation.”