CHESTER, Pa. – The Oskin Leadership Institute at Widener University has named retired Rear Adm. Margaret “Peg” Klein as the 2018 Beideman Visiting Scholar.
Klein is currently dean of leadership and ethics at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island after serving 35 years as a decorated Navy officer.
As the Beideman Visiting Scholar, Klein will deliver the lecture, “Values-Based Leadership,” on Thursday, March 29 at noon in the Webb Room of University Center, 1 University Place, Chester, Pennsylvania. The media is invited and encouraged to attend.
In addition to her lecture, Klein will spend the day on campus speaking in leadership classes, meeting with cadets in Widener’s Dauntless Battalion ROTC program and talking with administrators, including President Julie E. Wollman.
“The Oskin Leadership Institute is honored that Adm. Klein will be sharing her thoughts about leadership with Widener students, faculty and staff. She is widely-recognized across all branches of the military for being a trailblazer who exemplifies the Navy core values of honor, courage and commitment,” said Arthur Schwartz, professor of leadership studies and founding director of the Oskin Leadership Institute.
Klein completed a 35-year career as a U.S. Navy officer last year. She served as the secretary of defense’s senior advisor for military professionalism in her final three years. Prior to that, she was in an executive vice president role as chief of staff for the newly created U.S. Cyber Command. In 2008, she served in a senior vice president role as director of worldwide operations for the Navy’s Network Warfare Command.
Klein’s leadership experience reaches from sky to sea, and from classroom to boardroom. In 2011, she commanded an American military force of five ships, 30 aircraft and more than 3,300 sailors and Marines in successful combat operations in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2006, she served as the 82nd commandant of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where she was responsible for the professional development and welfare of 4,400 Navy and Marine Corps officer candidates. A Navy flier, Klein flew in and commanded an aviation squadron. She later led and flew with the entire force of these aircraft.
Klein is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. She holds a master’s degree in education leadership and currently studies in the chief learning officer doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania. She serves on the boards of two nonprofit organizations, as a trustee of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, and is a member of the Women in Aviation International.
The mission of the Oskin Leadership Institute is to perpetuate the university’s long and noble tradition of inspiring students to be strategic leaders and responsible citizens who possess the character, courage and competencies to affect positive change throughout the world.
(Story republished with permission from Widener University Communications Office)