What Emerson’s President Thinks About Work-Life Balance, Cover Letters and His Walk to Work

When M. Lee Pelton, the 12th and current president of Emerson College, was growing up in Wichita, Kansas, he was such a skilled orator by age 6 that his neighbors thought he would end up being a preacher.  Instead, the knack for presentation, and a further knack for management, helped the Harvard University graduate navigate his way through an impressive career in academia: Prior to his current role at Emerson, Pelton was dean of the college at Colgate University and Dartmouth College before becoming president of Willamette University for 13 years.