Progress Magazine Annual Report 2011 - Eller College of ...
Progress Magazine Annual Report 2011 - Eller College of ...
Progress Magazine Annual Report 2011 - Eller College of ...
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feature<br />
drive.<br />
energy.<br />
enthusiasm.<br />
leadership.<br />
Len Jessup grew up in the San<br />
Francisco Bay area, the descendent<br />
<strong>of</strong> Italian immigrants on both his<br />
mother’s and father’s sides <strong>of</strong><br />
the family.<br />
“Like many immigrants, my family<br />
came to America in search <strong>of</strong><br />
prosperity and a better life,” he<br />
said. “My family is a long line <strong>of</strong><br />
small businessmen and women<br />
dating all the way back to our<br />
origins in ‘the old country,’ and<br />
the conversations and stories<br />
around our dinner table constantly<br />
revolved around starting or<br />
growing businesses.”<br />
getting to know<br />
Len Jessup<br />
That entrepreneurial tradition<br />
would go on to inform Jessup’s<br />
research and his enthusiasm for<br />
driving change within institutions<br />
<strong>of</strong> higher education.<br />
Jessup was the first in his family<br />
to go to college — he earned his<br />
undergraduate degree in information<br />
and communication studies in<br />
1983 and his MBA in 1985, both<br />
from California State University,<br />
Chico. “It was eye-opening for me<br />
to even go to college,” he said.<br />
After completing his MBA, he made<br />
the decision to continue his studies<br />
with a doctoral program. “My time<br />
at the UA as a student in the late<br />
1980s was transformational for me<br />
20<br />
www.eller.arizona.edu n the university <strong>of</strong> arizona ®