Jennifer Strong ’02 ’03: Teaching Aggies integrity
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences professor crafts course, textbook around ethical leadership
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Most people consume media – movies, books, music or podcasts – for entertainment. But when Jennifer Strong ’02 ’03, Ph.D., sits down to watch a movie or listen to a song, she’s usually doing it for her students.
Strong teaches ethical leadership in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and has built her courses around a simple belief: abstract principles are best taught when they are grounded in stories students already know.
“I’m constantly watching TV and searching for music I normally wouldn’t listen to so I can connect better with my students,” Strong said. “I try to find what they’re interested in and connect leadership to those interests.”
Her classroom, it turns out, is just one corner of a much larger effort.
Returning to her Aggie roots
Strong earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M, both in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications. She attended Oklahoma State University for her doctorate and began her teaching career at the University of Georgia.
One day, Strong received a phone call: her mentor at Texas A&M University, Christine Townsend, Ph.D., was retiring, and the department wanted Strong to fill the vacancy. She recalls a pivotal moment during her interviews that ultimately shaped her path in ethical leadership education.
“I gave a seminar to a group of faculty during my interviews, and someone asked what classes we’re missing from our leadership curriculum,” Strong said. “I told them I thought we needed an ethics class.”
On day two of her new job as a professor at Texas A&M, then-department head Jack Elliott, Ph.D., stopped by Strong’s office and encouraged her to pursue the idea – so that’s exactly what she did.
She worked with Barry Boyd ’82 ’83 ’91, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department, to develop the course – a challenging but rewarding journey.
“There is truly something about this place. We care about our students as people first, and we want to make sure they’re holistic humans who will leave this campus and lead with integrity. The culture and students in our College can’t be beat.”
Jennifer Strong ’02 ’03, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
A class idea turned into a textbook
Strong built the course methodically. She began by immersing herself in the complex theories surrounding ethical leadership, then by figuring out how to make those theories land for undergraduates.
“Our students were challenged when learning about ethics because it’s not tangible – it’s a philosophy,” Strong explained. “Dr. Boyd and I couldn’t find a textbook we liked that connected with students, so we decided to write our own.”
The result was a textbook written specifically for Applied Ethics in Leadership – a resource carefully crafted over years of watching students wrestle with abstract concepts and designed to meet them where they were.
For Strong, writing it was one of the most demanding and meaningful projects of her career, driven less by academic ambition than by a straightforward conviction: her students deserved better materials than what existed.
How she serves her students
Strong’s work in ethical leadership eventually led to her appointment as the faculty director for the Dr. Joe Townsend ’67 Leadership Fellows Program, extending her reach beyond her classroom to students across the College.
This program is special to Strong for many reasons – namely, the impact the Townsend family had on her life. Before Joe’s passing in 2021, he was married to Strong’s mentor, Christine, for 41 years.
“Joe and Chris Townsend both had remarkable impacts on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and it’s really special for me to be able to help carry on their legacy,” Strong said. “It’s one of my favorite parts of my job.”
This program, inspired by Joe Townsend’s tenure as associate vice president and associate dean for student development, gives students structured opportunities to grow as leaders outside of lectures. For Strong, it’s also a chance to honor two people who meant a great deal to her.
In 2017, Strong’s 8-year-old son, Cooper, passed away suddenly. In the years since, she has carried that loss into her teaching – not as a burden, but as a reminder of what she holds most dear.
“Every semester on the first day of class, I show my students a picture of Cooper and I talk about the impact he’s had on my life and my values,” Strong said. “It’s been very special for me to help students through their own struggles because of my life experiences.”
Why integrity matters to her
Strong has always been drawn to questions of ethics, but she admits the word “integrity” gave her trouble for years – until a friend reframed it.
“My friend told me that the root word of integrity is integer, which means a whole, positive number,” Strong said. “Suddenly, it all clicked for me. It’s about being an authentic leader – to live with integrity means your values match your words, and your words match your actions.”
Or as the University defines it, integrity is about honoring and following through on commitments and holding ourselves and others accountable.
It is a definition Strong has spent her career trying to embody as much as teach. The students who know her see it clearly – in the way she learns their interests, writes textbooks for their benefit, shares her grief in service of their growth and shows up, semester after semester, as exactly who she says she is.
“There is truly something about this place,” Strong said with a smile. “We care about our students as people first, and we want to make sure they’re holistic humans who will leave this campus and lead with integrity. The culture and students in our College can’t be beat.”
