One by one, the 2024-25 Wallace Fellows stepped to the podium. The Campbell University students introduced themselves and turned to their notes.
Each speaker was asked to answer a different question — seemingly simple though actually complex. Their answers started listeners down disparate paths yet left them in a common place.
The students’ words were their own, but the teachings, guidance and contributions of Dr. Jerry M. Wallace resonated in every syllable. Wallace, an ordained minister, served 12 years as Campbell’s president. He has since held many leadership roles at the university, including teaching The Wallace Interprofessional Servant Leadership & Character Fellowship Seminar.
Wallace, who turns 90 on April 20, said this was his final celebration as leader of the program as he honored the 10 fellows in a luncheon Monday, April 14.
He specially thanked the 2024-25 Wallace Servant Leadership & Character founders and many others, including Campbell Law School Dean J. Rich Leonard and Britt Davis, former vice president for Institutional Advancement, for their integral roles in starting and maintaining the fellowship program.
The 2024-25 founders are: Rusty Angel, Steve Bryan, Dexter and Dorothy Floyd, Greg and Jennifer Floyd, Gordon Maxwell, Wendel Murphy, James Purvis, Stuart Surles, Toby Wells, Luby and Catherine Wood.
“Founders are necessary in anything that makes a difference,” Wallace said. “Somebody has to step up and say, ‘I believe in what you’re doing, and I want to help.’ The greatest story that I’ve discovered at Campbell University are the founders. … They’ve become my family. They’re like my brothers and my sisters.”
Wallace also recognized Dr. Joe Cacioppo with The Wallace Faculty Servant Leadership & Character Award.
Cacioppo, chair of Community and Global Medicine at the medical school, exemplifies the med school’s mission of caring for the underserved and rural populations, throughout North Carolina and beyond.
As president, Wallace played a crucial role in ushering in Campbell’s medical school, which bears his name.
“I have learned more than I have taught,” Wallace said of the fellows program. “It has been a revelation to me, the quality, the character and the commitment of our students each session, which I think has been the best until I get the next one.
“This one, of course, has been a very special one to me, because it’s my last time as the primary faculty member of the Wallace Fellows,” he said. “But thank you, all of you, for making this happen.”
The seven Wallace Fellows who stepped to the podium responded to questions about leadership and, more directly, servant leadership. They talked about their experience as a fellow, how it has affected them, and it will affect them.
Taylor Long, a Master of Divinity candidate, read “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” (Luke 10-25:37).
She’d read it many times before.
“However, this time around, my reading of the character felt notably different,” Long said. “While I held space for the complexities of the passage, I realized that I would not have enough space for finding the complexities of myself in this passage. It is easy to preach a sermon or parse out a reading of this passage while ignoring the people that you are serving in front of you.
“So, while it will be easier to say that I am like the Good Samaritan, the reality is that I am probably more like a priest who passed by the man on the side of the road. I think that in acknowledging this placement, we might be able to hear the words of Christ more clearly, to go and do what the Good Samaritan did, to hear the call and have mercy on others.”
The eight other fellows represented healthcare specialities. They were Doctor of Pharmacy candidates Jaylen Ansley Barnes and Sophia Miller Jones; Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine candidates John Biondi and Katherine Atkinson; Doctor of Physical Therapy candidates Erin Carter and Paige Moir; Master of Physician Assistant candidates McKenna Grant and Zachary Thomas Powers; and Master of Science in Public Health Candidate Maisy Rainey.
Servant leadership is essential in healthcare because it fosters a culture centered around compassion, trust and collaboration, said Dr. Pam Edwards, chair and director of the Catherine W. Wood School of Nursing and assistant dean for Interprofessional Education.
The fellowship program cultivates graduating students into servant leaders who align with the principle that one must serve before leading.
“Servant leadership is essential in healthcare because it fosters a culture centered around compassion, trust and collaboration,” Edwards said. “That really is why we’re all here, and it’s a tenet of inter-professional education.
“By prioritizing service to others, servant leaders in healthcare inspire teams to work together toward a shared mission, improving the lives of patients, families and communities … creating a supportive environment for providers. It’s leadership with heart, and that makes all the difference.”
Miller Jones said she has learned her role as a pharmacist is not only to be a physician who heals the body with medication, but one who also helps with patients’ minds and spirits.
“The Wallace Fellow Program has really just been an experience I will never forget. I’m very grateful that, yes, I have that clinical knowledge,” she said. “But Dr. Wallace has instilled all of this positivity and these very special attributes to help anyone we serve.”
