Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics

05/08/2026

A Day of Learning and Reflection.

This Spring Term has been one of continuous learning and community building for both the graduating class of 2026 COLE Leadership Fellows and the new cohort (Class of 2027).

Recently, both cohorts came together for a day of learning and reflection.

Leadership Development Day began with a session on “The Art of Feedback”, with both classes working together to unlock the power of:
1️⃣ Feedback that strengthens teams
2️⃣ Communication that lands with impact
3️⃣ Conversations that elevates leadership.

The second half of the day focused on deepening the new cohort's understanding of leadership. COLE Faculty Director, Sim Sitkin, introduced Fellows to the Six Domains of Leadership Model (SDLM) and guided them in demystifying the insights from their Six Domains of Leadership Survey (SDLS). The Survey requires COLE Fellows to rate their own leadership and ask others who are familiar with their leadership to complete confidential evaluations of their leadership capabilities.

A special thanks to:
▪️ Class of 2026 COLE Leadership Fellows- Bianca Valladares, Tinashe Nyamupingidza and Ana Hernandez- for planning a day centered on growth and learning.
▪️ Bob Kulhan and Josh Pryor for a energetic and engaging Business Improv session.

We are excited to continuing working (and walking) with the newest cohort of COLE Fellows as they grow as leaders and prepare to serve as mentors, coaches and facilitators to the incoming Duke's Fuqua School of Business MBA Class of 2028.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7457873493670440960

04/17/2026

Congratulations to the latest Traveling Trophy recipient, Rohit Fonseca! 👏🏀✨🏆

03/30/2026

Congratulations to Tyler Johnson, the most recent Traveling Trophy recipient!! 🏀✨👏

03/10/2026

"You Are The Keeper of Your Own Potential"

Read the latest issue of COLE’s e-newsletter featuring some of the women leaders helping to shape the future of Duke's Fuqua School of Business and Duke University undergraduate students, through meaningful conversations celebrating women’s leadership and influence.

They empowered students to:

▶️ Have the courage to be yourself in rooms that are not designed for you.
▶️ Design your own unique blueprints of change.
▶️ Ink your vision; pencil your plans.
▶️ Keep going no matter what.

https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=543040cad57edc7d495969254&id=1d14849e90

Sanyin Siang

02/12/2026

Congratulations to Kaley Tobin, the most recent Traveling Trophy winner! 🏀✨

02/03/2026

🎥 From COLE’s conversations at the 2025 Responsible AI Symposium (now Conference on Society‑Centered AI).

▶️ COLE Executive Director Sanyin Siang sat down with Jana Schaich Borg to discuss her work on moral AI and inclusive stakeholder engagement, specifically, how to build trust between AI developers/organizations and the diverse communities affected by AI systems.

Dr. Schaich Borg is an Associate Research Professor at Duke University's Social Science Research Institute. She will be speaking on the panel - “AI Companionship and Intimacy”- at the 2026 Conference on Society‑Centered AI, with Kaamna Bhojwani and Timothy Strauman (https://sites.duke.edu/scai/speaker-bios/).

The 2026 Conference will bring together industry and academic leaders, researchers, and students to discuss emerging trends in society-centered AI.

Date: February 12-14
Where: Duke University
Learn more and Register: https://sites.duke.edu/scai/

01/27/2026

On Feb. 12-14, industry and academic leaders, researchers, and students will convene at Duke University for the 2026 Conference on Society‑Centered AI (formerly Responsible AI Symposium), to explore emerging trends in society‑centered AI. COLE is proud to be an academic partner for a second year.

🎥 From COLE’s conversations at the 2025 Responsible AI Symposium:

▶️ COLE Executive Director Sanyin Siang sat down with Walter Sinnott-Armstrong to discuss his work on Moral AI, specifically the need to build systems, using an interdisciplinary approach, that will predict what humans would say if they were informed and impartial, then using those predictions as guardrails to keep AI aligned with human interests.

Dr. Sinnott‑Armstrong is the Chauncey Stillman Distinguished Professor of Practical Ethics at Duke University. He will moderate the panel on “AI Companionship and Intimacy" at the 2026 Conference, with panelists Kaamna Bhojwani, Jana Schaich Borg, and Timothy Strauman (https://sites.duke.edu/scai/speaker-bios/).

Learn more and register: https://sites.duke.edu/scai/

Stay tuned for more short clips.

Sanyin Siang

01/20/2026

For a second year, COLE is an academic partner of the 2026 Conference on Society-Centered AI (formerly Responsible AI Symposium). The Conference brings together industry and academic leaders, researchers, and students to discuss emerging trends in society-centered AI. The event will consist of keynotes by world-renowned researchers, expert panels, spotlight research talks, and daily research poster sessions with art exhibits and mocktails.

The 2025 event attracted over 700 people representing over 50 companies and 20 universities. Watch the highlight reel-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL9WQxTzRTE. In our next few posts, we will share some of the 1 on 1 conversations we had with 2025 participants -experts, researchers and students. For example:
▪️ Walter Sinnott-Armstrong: on developing moral AI frameworks that align with what informed and impartial humans would value -creating systems that predict human values when people have full information, rather than relying on uninformed opinions or single-discipline approaches. Walter is the Chauncey Stillman Distinguished Professor of Practical Ethics at Duke University.

▪️ Jana Schaich Borg: on moral AI and inclusive stakeholder engagement, specifically, how to build trust between AI developers/organizations and the diverse communities affected by AI systems. Jana is an Associate Research Professor at the Social Science Research Institute at Duke University.

▪️ Sudha Meghan: on applying AI to maintain human compassion at scale in healthcare, with special attention to how language, culture, dialect, and word choice affect how different populations access information and ask questions. Sudha is Managing Director of Hummingbird Health.

The 2026 Conference is on February 12-14 at Duke University. Learn more and register at https://sites.duke.edu/scai/

Sanyin Siang

12/18/2025

To explore how leaders make decisions and stay focused on their mission when the stakes are high, COLE Executive Director, Sanyin Siang moderated a conversation on “Leading Through Uncertainty and Change”.

The panelists -Deborah Lee James, Robert Satcher MD PhD and Jerome P. Lynch- shared lessons learned on overcoming failure, communicating in crisis and building a team culture.

🔷 On Learning from Past Failures: “You can have a lot of passions in life and it’s great to have a Plan A, but those Plan Bs can be the absolute best of all” - Deborah Lee James, 23rd Secretary of the United States Air Force; COLE Distinguished Fellow.

🔷 On Navigating Crisis: “You have to be thoughtful and mindful about how you pace your leadership, as it’s impacting people around you” - Jerome P. Lynch, Vinik Dean of Engineering at Duke University.

🔷 On Managing Organizations: “You always have things to learn from each other and the best teams I’ve seen are ones with a level of communication and trust” - Robert Satcher, orthopedic surgeon, chemical engineer and former NASA astronaut.

Watch the full conversation: youtube.com/watch?v=bU32xflYx1I&feature=youtu.be

The conversation was convened by Duke University Pratt School of Engineering and the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE). https://pratt.duke.edu/news/leading-through-stress/

It’s easy to captain a ship with clear skies, calm waters and a gentle breeze. But when the storm comes, and it will, that’s when true leadership is put to t...

11/25/2025

Paula Alexander (Marketing Innovation Director, Burt’s Bees and Fuqua alumni, MBA ’98) joined us for a Fireside Chat as part of the Duke's Fuqua School of Business' Impact Dialogue Lunch Series for Fuqua Impact Scholars.

The session was co-hosted by the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE) and Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment (EDGE).

Facilitated by Katie Kross (EDGE's Managing Director), Paula shared her perspectives on leading with impact, the realities of leading sustainability in a values-driven brand, and gave our students practical advice on how they should think about their career decisions and professional development in general.

💠 Know your values & strengths.
💠 Follow the energy—listen to your gut.
💠 Be ready for discomfort—growth lives there.
💠 Ink your vision; pencil your plans.
💠 When creating, the greatest freedom is a tight brief.
💠 Be patient and confident – the right thing will come along.
💠 “Whatever you do, be different” – Anita Roddick, Body Shop founder.

Thank you Paula for spending time with our students and sharing your wisdom!
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Impact Scholars are First Year Daytime MBA students selected into Fuqua’s Impact Scholar program. The program is designed to allow students to engage more deeply with Fuqua’s five research centers, namely: Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE), Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment (EDGE), Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Duke I&E), Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), and Center for Health Sector Management (HSM).