Northwestern professor awarded college’s Endowed Research Fellowship

Northwestern College is awarding its Endowed Research Fellowship for 2026 to Dr. Jiying (Jenny) Song, associate professor of business. She was chosen for the $10,000 grant by the Faculty Development Committee after an external review process.

The Endowed Research Fellowship funds substantive summer research that contributes meaningfully to the faculty member’s discipline. It is provided through the generosity of an anonymous donor and may be used for stipend, travel, equipment, books, supplies and student assistants.

Song will use the funds to examine Robert Greenleaf’s archival papers at the Yale Divinity Library in New Haven, Connecticut. She seeks to identify and curate at least 15,000 words of unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the 20th volume of the International Journal of Servant-Leadership by November and lay the groundwork for future posthumous publications of Greenleaf’s work. This project builds on prior Northwestern Scholarship Grant-funded research Song conducted that resulted in two published Greenleaf collections.

After retiring as director of management research at AT&T, Greenleaf founded the Center for Applied Ethics in 1964. He published the landmark essay “The Servant as Leader” and coined the term “servant-leadership.”

Song has served as the associate editor for the International Journal of Servant-Leadership since 2016 and has been an editor for three books: “Servant-Leadership and Forgiveness: How Leaders Help Heal the Heart of the World,” “Global Servant-Leadership: Wisdom, Love and Legitimate Power in the Age of Chaos” and “Servant-Leadership, Feminism and Gender Well-Being: How Leaders Transcend Global Inequities Through Hope, Unity and Love.”

A member of Northwestern’s business faculty since 2019, Song received Northwestern’s Faculty Inspirational Service Award in 2025 and the Faculty Excellence in Faith and Learning Award in 2022. She earned a doctorate in leadership studies from Gonzaga University and a Master of Divinity from George Fox University. Certified in project management, Song received extensive industry experience in IT and supply chain management in China.