This past cloudy Thursday was made a little bit brighter with the warm inviting atmosphere of the Leadership Lunch’s second meet on February 19, 2026 hosted by Associate Director of Student Development Lauren Wilson, and guest speaker Dr. Chad Roberts from Stockton’s Communication Studies program.

With meeting room 5 close to full capacity at Stockton’s Galloway Campus Center and good quality catering service, Doctor Roberts gave attendees the opportunity to discuss openly about the future of higher education and tips on how to implement changes at the human level. 

With Leadership Lunches having made its way from being a once-off meeting every semester prior to Covid-19, to virtual lunch meets during quarantine, and becoming a bi-monthly event every semester, Stockton undergrads can be sure to look forward to good lunches, meaningful examinations of leadership and social environments, as well as friendly leaders willingly volunteering their time and efforts to give their support for their fellow Ospreys.

As Wilson described it, “So many offices were cancelling programs… It was a weekly virtual series we did and everyone was encouraged to join and bring their own lunch… Once we came back, we still encouraged everybody to come and have these great conversations together.” These great conversations were evident, especially being led by Professor Roberts.

“I tailored it to the group, because when I’m standing in front of a group of students who are in their early twenties who are close to getting ready to start their careers and are having this issue of ‘what’s gonna happen next?’ I want to make those folks feel comfortable to see you don’t have to know it all at 23,” explained Dr. Roberts when asked why he volunteered as a public speaker for the event, “from what I knew at 23 and what I know now at 51 is miles apart, and I want to help students to see that they’re gonna get out there, and they may stumble and fall, but you’ll get back up.”

This was the heart of the discussion behind the idea to ask students to work in groups and discuss “the push of the present, the weight of the past, and the pull of the future.” Students together created charts with paper and pens provided by Wilson as they talked about relevant questions about how education looked in the past and how it will work in the future while reflecting on the present.

The conversation included questions on inflation, the increase in career switching, the use of technology and enrollment via virtual classes and the cost of attendance at the expense of experience in face-to-face conversations, even relaying on his own account that less than 8,000 students are full-time enrollments and questions about how many of them are online students. “It was a lot of what I learned when I went through the doctoral program from Stockton,” the professor expressed, “this is the first one I’ve done, but it was fun, I enjoyed it!”

“Sometimes we get speakers who are current faculty and staff here at Stockton, sometimes it’s the sum of our alumni, sometimes it’s our community members from the Career Education and Development office who also partners with employers who want to reach out to students,” said Wilson in reference to the first meeting this spring on February 5, when a City Year member volunteered to talk about her organization and different leadership styles on the individual level.

“This year we partnered with the Organization Leadership Doctorate Program, and so Sequetta Sweet, the program chair, sent out an email for presenters who offered current students/alumni of the program who figured “we have these experts in leadership, why not utilize and tap into that great resource that we have” and so most of our presenters this year are from that program.”

With the next event being on March 5, 2026 at 12:30 P.M., students interested to attend can be sure to be personally welcomed by director Wilson with patience and kindness that emulates good leadership and humility, answering questions and assisting students to access the OspreyHub so they can check in before helping themselves to a selection of sandwiches, potato chips and cookies, vegetable soup and marinated tofu, as well as beverages such as soda pop and bottled water.

Students also have the chance to converse with the guest speakers one on one after their presentations to follow up on any questions they have or simply chatting just as many attending Ospreys did with Dr. Roberts, “Whether I’m in the classroom or doing something like this, it’s always fun.”