Nashville Business Journal names Lipscomb's Charla Long Woman of Influence
Janel Shoun |
Long was selected as one of two Women of Influence in the innovation category. The winners were highlighted in a special publication, released July 13, and honored at the Women of Influence celebration luncheon July 12.
| “Professionally I have worked for leading companies. I have been able to bring these experiences into the classroom and share them with the next generation of business leaders. I’m proud of every graduating class of students that leave my institution having a little piece of me woven into them.” -- Charla Long, director of the Center for Law, Justice
and Society at Lipscomb University. |
The Journal collected nominations from the community this spring and recognized two to three Women of Influence in each of the following categories: behind-the-scenes, community supporter, corporate executive, entrepreneur, family business, innovation, inspiration, mentor, nonprofit leadership and public policy.
In the past year, Long has worked with Lipscomb College of Business faculty to:
- Enhance undergraduate business curriculum with learning outcomes
- Lead a group of 30 students to China
- Develop an innovative introductory course for freshmen
- Establish a new major in law, justice and society
Long was in good company at the Women of Influence luncheon. Other winners of the honor included: Tresa Halbrooks, manager of community relations for the Tennessee Titans; Elizabeth Seigenthaler Courtney, chairwoman and CEO of Seigenthaler Public Relations; Agenia Clark, chairwoman and CEO of the Girl Scout Council of Cumberland Valley; and Beth Harwell, a Tennessee State Representative.
| “Charla is an exceptional role model for all that come in contact with her, but especially for our female students at Lipscomb University. Charla pushes her students and also her co-workers for excellence in all that they do.” -- Lisa Shacklett, director of Lipscomb’s Career Development
Center, who nominated Long for the honor. |
(as printed in the Nashville Business Journal special publication, “Women of Influence”)
By Joe Morris, special to the Nashville Business Journal
A good instructor knows that practical knowledge is every bit as important as theoretical learning. A better instructor takes that knowledge and acts on it.
Lipscomb University has that better instructor in Charla Long, who in addition to serving as chairwoman of its management department, established the Center for Law, Justice and Society, a community outreach program, in the spring of 2007.
“She isn’t one who just says, ‘This is how you teach management,’” says Lisa Shacklett, director of Lipscomb’s career development center. “She’s always looking at what’s new, what’s happening and wants to connect with the real world.”
The center’s drive is to teach students “how to make a difference in their communities with social issues through legal change,” Long says.
In addition, Long also teaches three classes per term, advises students, and, outside the classroom, is actively involved in community affairs. She also is a bit busy at home, with four children under eight.
“To balance motherhood and my responsibilities as a wife with my career can be challenging,” she says. ‘However, three of my children are girls and I feel an obligation to show them that it can be done. Even though I have a thriving career, I still pick my children up in car line every day and play at the park on the way home from school.”
Long has landed grant funds for the university to bring in new programming and other innovations. According to Shacklett, Long’s the type of person to meet with an employer in the community, then sit down with faculty members to take lunchtime conversation and turn it into practical applications.
“She’s somebody who never settles for the way we’re doing things,” Shacklett says. “She’s always challenging the college of business and the entire campus to do things in a new, different way, and making sure we are providing the absolute best for our students that we can.”