Muncie Reporter

Author, Educator, Business Advisor Stedman Graham to Speak at Ball State as part of Letterman Lecture Series, Oct. 19

New York Times bestselling author, educator, business advisor, and Ball State University graduate Stedman Graham ’89 will be the next featured speaker in the David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series at Ball State. 

Mr. Graham’s lecture, titled “Identity Leadership,” is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 19 at Sursa Performance Hall. Free tickets for Ball State students, faculty and staff, and the general public are available online, or by visiting or calling the University’s College of Fine Arts box office in Sursa Performance Hall, at 765-285-8749. The College of Fine Arts box office is open from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Chairman and CEO of S. Graham and Associates, Mr. Graham’s “Identity Leadership” concept is based on the philosophy that people cannot lead others until they first lead themselves. His book about this concept, also titled Identity Leadership, was published in 2019. 

As an educator, Mr. Graham has been a distinguished visiting professor at numerous colleges and universities around the nation. Mr. Graham, who earned his master’s degree in Education from Ball State in 1989, is a former adjunct professor at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Business, where he taught the course, “The Dynamics of Leadership.” 

“We are excited to have Mr. Graham as our next guest in the David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series, and we look forward to having him back on campus,” said Dr. Paaige Turner, dean of Ball State’s College of Communication, Information, and Media (CCIM), which coordinates this series. “As an American educator, Mr. Graham has a vast array of unique knowledge, experience, and insights that can be beneficial to us all.” 

The David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series was established in 2008 through a generous gift from Mr. Letterman, a 1969 Ball State graduate. The series brings major business, media, and academic figures to campus to engage students in discussions about the latest issues in communications, emerging media, and cultural forces shaping our society. 

Guests have included legendary newscaster Ted Koppel, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, innovator Tom Kelley, award-winning journalist John Quiñones, and author and public policy expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Tiara Thomas, a 2012 Ball State University graduate and Grammy and Oscar award-winning singer-songwriter, was the Fall 2021 guest. Mr. Letterman has personally invited and hosted conversations with media icon and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, MSNBC primetime host Rachel Maddow, and filmmakers Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller.

Original source can be found here.