Progress Magazine Annual Report 2011 - Eller College of ...

looking
back
Len Jessup in his office in the Harvill building in his doctoral
days. Jessup remembers his Kaypro 2000 “portable computer”
fondly. “I thought it was the coolest thing that I could travel
on a plane with my computer,” he said. “When I was visiting
my parents, I could plug the telephone line into it and look at
data. At that time, they had no idea what it was all about.”
Len Jessup Photo
During his doctoral days
at Eller, Len Jessup
worked closely with Terry
Connolly, Eller Professor
of Management and
Organizations. Connolly
said the two stayed in
touch after Jessup
graduated. “Given our
shared research interests,
we'd find ourselves at the
same meetings, or visiting
each other's campus or
working on research
together,” he said. “It's
been a while since we
wrote anything together
but it’s always a delight
to see one's old students
moving on into
distinguished careers.”
When Jessup was
admitted to the doctoral
program in management
– and continuing to this
day – the program was
small with a great
reputation, with wellqualified
and ambitious
students. “What made Len
stand out for me among
this elite group was his
enormous energy and
enthusiasm,” Connolly
said. “He just never wore
out. We'd wrap up a long
session of work planning
the next steps in a
research project and he'd
be ready for a flat-out
hour on the racketball
court–we played a lot,
and I have to say he was
tactful enough not to
beat me too often–I was
his advisor, after all!” But
then, he added, “Early the
following morning, Len
would be in my office
with the work halffinished
already and
eager to move on to the
next step.”
In 2004, the Department
of Management presented
Jessup with its
distinguished Ph.D.
alumnus award. “That
was a special pleasure for
me – a bit like the parents'
delight when the kids
grow up and achieve
great things,” Connolly
said. “When he came
down for the WSU-Arizona
football game a couple of
years ago, we got to talking
about where his next career
move might be, I wasn't
surprised that he still felt
all sorts of affection for
Tucson and Eller College
and that his background,
both as a teacher and
researcher and as an
administrator, would
make him a near-perfect
fit for us.”
Added Connolly, “I've been
fortunate to work with
some pretty gifted,
productive people over
the years, but I've never
met Len's match for the
level of enthusiasm and
energy he brings to every
project. I can see from the
way he's plunged into his
first few months of
working as our dean that
this hasn't changed a bit.
He has a wonderful gift
for energizing not just
himself but the people
around him.”
eller progress n fall 2011 23