Meet Leilani Carver-Madalon, the program director and associate professor of communication at Maryville University.
Leilani Carver-Madalon, PhD, specializes in strategic communication, marketing communication and leadership. Before entering academia, Carver-Madalon worked eight years in technology training and development, project management, and consulting.
As a professor, Carver-Madalon empowers learners to become leaders through experiential learning opportunities such as short-term study abroad programs and practical assignments, which include real clients. She developed and launched the women’s leadership mentorship program at Maryville University, which involves approximately 200 mentors and mentees annually. The program teaches professional skills like strategic risk-taking, confidence building, salary negotiation, public speaking, and career advancement.
Carver-Madalon strongly advocates for learners to explore their interests and values during their studies, encouraging informational interviews, job shadowing, and internships to learn more about creating a career — and a life — they love. She believes it’s impossible to teach a student everything they need to know, but it’s essential to teach them how to learn and to inspire a passion for lifelong learning. As Greek essayist Plutarch wrote, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lit.”