The Lubin School of Business at Pace University has launched a new initiative designed to help students better understand the connection between happiness and leadership. The Center for Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, located within Lubin, was established in partnership with Harvard professor Arthur Brooks, who leads the Leadership and Happiness Laboratory.
The center is offering a free six-session, non-credit program for Pace students that explores the science of happiness and its role in effective leadership. Ipshita Ray, PhD, graduate program chair at Lubin, is leading the effort. Her motivation comes from her own experiences overcoming adversity.
“I’ve been blessed with a second chance, and my mission is not to waste it, but to do something meaningful,” Ray said. “I truly believe that my Pace Community, my colleagues and friends, saved my life.”
Ray’s interest in the topic deepened during her recovery from stage three cancer and her return to teaching amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She noticed many students were struggling with finding purpose. “I realized the students were hurting inside,” Ray said. “I didn’t want to just teach them material for academic purposes. I wanted to do something with impact.”
Inspired by Brooks’ work at Harvard Kennedy School’s Leadership and Happiness Laboratory and his book From Strength to Strength, Ray reached out to him with a proposal to adapt his research for Pace University.
Brooks is known for advocating that leadership education should include lessons on happiness—a theme he explored in his book Build the Life You Want (co-written with Oprah Winfrey). Working together, Ray and Brooks developed a curriculum that combines scientific research on happiness with practical leadership skills.
“The lessons are designed around how happiness can be a daily practice—how you can take it from a feeling to a state of being,” Ray explained. “It’s about converting negative energy into positive energy.” She added: “This program is about building leaders who lift others up. Leaders whose main purpose is service, not wealth or power. It’s about building leaders with a foundational happiness that allows them to elevate the people that surround them.”
The six sessions cover various aspects of emotional intelligence and leadership practices. Neil Braun, Lubin Dean Emeritus and former NBCUniversal president, supports the center financially and will co-teach alongside Ray.
Students who complete the program will receive certificates indicating participation in a curriculum designed by Harvard Kennedy School faculty in collaboration with Lubin. They will also be invited to network with business executives and recent alumni.
Ray hopes this initiative will expand beyond Lubin in future semesters—to other schools within Pace University as well as institutions across New York—and eventually develop into a formal dual-degree partnership with Harvard.
“I want to make this a major movement,” she said. “My hope is to expand the program University-wide, which would allow Harvard to list us on their website, invite us to symposia, and co-lead research.”
Ray emphasized her immediate goal: supporting current Pace students by equipping them with tools for both personal fulfillment and professional success.
“How can you lead if you don’t see the value in yourself or others?” she asked. “I want students to understand they have complete agency over their choices,” Ray said. “I believe a winning life is a choice, that happiness is a choice.”
The Center for Leadership and Emotional Intelligence is open to all Lubin students seeking more information about participation.
