about the director

As Director of the School of Leadership Studies, Mary Tolar works with faculty and staff to provide learning experiences aligned with the mission of “developing knowledgeable, ethical, caring, inclusive leaders for a diverse and changing world” for the approximate 1,400 students in the minor as well as the wider campus community through the School’s extensive array of programs. Tolar teaches Senior Seminar, directs the Coffman Leadership Institute, and partners often with K-State’s Institute for Discourse and Democracy and the Center for Engagement and Community Development. Her research interests focus on the art and practice of civic leadership development, women’s pathways to public service leadership and the role of scholarship and fellowship opportunities on leadership development.

Tolar considers developing students as scholars and citizens the civic purpose of higher education, and essential to a vital democracy and a healthy society. "The major challenges we face today are not simple matters of resources. They are not technical problems, but rather challenges that require new ways of thinking, marshalling resources in new ways to adapt to changing circumstances – challenges that call each of us to exercise leadership."