Dear Bargies- Class of 2025,
You came to BLI with enthusiasm and openness to learning and change. Now, you have become the leaders who care and are ready to change the world. Your BLI learning will make you a strong leader and a change agent.
Congratulations! Keep in touch!! Go Blue!!!
With Metta,
Ram Mahalingam, Ph.D.
Director, Barger Leadership Institute
Barger Leadership Institute
Class of 2025
It is with great pride that we announce the Barger Leadership Graduates who have participated in our advanced leadership programming!
Applied Leadership Fellows at the BLI serve as the liaisons between the BLI's professional staff and its student members, allowing the Institute to maintain a close connection to the community that we serve. These students deepen their leadership and professional development by working to learn in a fast-paced, collaborative team environment. This year's graduating seniors are:
- Aayana Anand
- Meaghan Ennis
- Priya Kalra
- Julia Kassab
- Thomas Mezgebu
- Olivia O'Connell
Leadership Teaching Fellows at the BLI mentor fellow students to develop their leadership, by instructing the BLI leadership courses. These students play a significant role in developing course content, leading discussions, modeling the habits, and supporting student project teams. This year's graduating seniors are:
- Yena Kwon
- Veronika Senzer
The Social Transformation Fellowship, supports undergrads with the exploration and development of their ideas. Teams are supported in designing and implementing evidence-based projects that seek to bring about small (and big) wins for the complex, ambiguous problems that exist in our deeply interconnected world. In this experience, BLI provided teams with funding, mentorship, training, and opportunities to master effective leadership habits. This year's graduating seniors are:
- Erin Alcott (2023)
- Mayee Chen (2022)
- Emma Cordova (2022)
- Pranav Desurkar
- Pooja Kannappan
- Julia Kassab (2022)
- Atishay Kumar
- Camelin McKay
- Shriya Mehta (2023)
- Akhila Akhila (2022)
- Miti Shah (2023)
- Elyse Soracco (2023)
- Aarti Sridhar
- Saarang Suryavanshi
- Maxwell Wen
- Tianyu (Darrin) Zhou
In collaboration, M-LEAD and the BLI offers the Leadership Certificate at the University of Michigan to recognize exceptional student leaders on campus who involve themselves in experiential, class-based, and service leadership learning. This year's students graduating from the Leadership Certificate program are:
- Clare Adams
- Kevin Alfaro-Ortiz
- Aayana Anand
- Taylor Burnham
- Tess Carichner
- Aysha Chowdhury
- Natalia Dussán
- Meaghan Ennis
- Thomas Gala-Garza
- Prakhar Gupta
- Harish Jaisankar
- Grace Harte
- Aliyah Hirji
- Samantha Howden
- Julia Kassab
- Ariana Kertsman
- Emerson Krause
- Abby Liang
- Christian Loredo-Duran
- Camelin McKay
- Thomas Mezgebu
- Akhila Akhila
- Olivia O'Connell
- Peter Parlagreco
- Aarti Sridhar
- Praneet Voleti
- Allison Wei
- Sabrina Chun Yan Wong
- Nancy Xu
- Arvin Yaple
Message from Dean Curzan
Dear BLI Graduates,
Congratulations on your accomplishments and on your upcoming graduation! This is a major milestone in your lives. So I hope you won't rush through it. Take a moment to reflect on where you were when you started at UM, what you have learned, and where you want to go next--and why. As a member of the BLI community, you have had the opportunity to understand the value of mindfulness, and I hope this is a moment when you can be truly present, with your peers and mentors, and others who have helped you get here. This is a big "life moment."
While definitions of leadership can sometimes focus on the leader, I think it is important to focus on the verb at the heart of the words 'leadership' and 'leader': 'to lead.' Leadership is about inspiring others; it is about motivating people toward a shared goal in support of a shared mission. As leaders, may you continue to think about how you can inspire and both foster and celebrate the accomplishments of others. May you lead with wisdom, integrity, and grace.
Congratulations again, and Go Blue!
Sincerely,
Anne Curzan
Dean, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
