In Memoriam: Joanna Leapheart Newman

Joanna Leapheart Newman, a longtime faculty member in the Sam M. Walton College of Business' Department of Management who became its first assistant department chair, died July 20 at age 75. After joining the U of A in 1990, Newman devoted the next quarter century to teaching, mentoring and serving students, colleagues and the Walton College community before retiring in December 2015. Generations of students, faculty and colleagues came to know Newman not only for her leadership but for her remarkable ability to listen, encourage and help others recognize their own potential.

"When I became chair, I relied on Joanna for almost everything," said Alan Ellstrand, former chair of the Department of Management and professor emeritus of management in Walton College. "She was a counselor to all of us. At the end of the day, life is about human connection, and Joanna understood that better than almost anyone. The world needs more Joanna Newmans."

Students carried those lessons with them long after they left Newman's classroom. She had a gift for recognizing when students needed encouragement while also challenging them to reach higher than they believed they could. Her scholarship explored race and gender in higher education, workplace feedback, antisocial behavior and the ways employees maintain dignity and pride in occupations others may stigmatize.

"Dr. Newman was one of only two Black instructors I had during my time at Walton College, and seeing someone who looked like me in that role meant so much," said LaShonda M. Pegue-Dennis, a 1997 Walton College graduate and founder and CEO of Texas-based Pegue-Dennis, CPA PC. "She was a surrogate mother to everyone she met, but she never cut anyone any corners. She taught us that believing in someone also means expecting their best."

"She never rushed to judgment or assumed she had all the answers," said Anne O'Leary-Kelley, former senior associate dean and professor emeritus of management in Walton College. "Even during times of tremendous change, she had the ability to help people find common ground. That's how she led: with an energized heart and a gentle touch."

The qualities Newman shared so freely at Walton College were inseparable from the person she was beyond it. She was a devoted wife to fellow U of A professor and artist John L. Newman, a loving mother, a woman of deep faith, a church leader, a counselor and a keeper of family and community history whose practical wisdom and unwavering encouragement strengthened generations of people.

"You always got the same Joanna Newman," said Erica (Doc) Holliday, who first met Newman through church before later serving alongside her as a professor at Walton College and Northwest Arkansas Community College. "She was firm but gentle, the community's prayer warrior, an inspiration to so many and a true friend."