Oprah Winfrey And Beau Stedman Graham To Teach Class At Northwestern University

Jet, June 7, 1999

Oprah Winfrey and her longtime beau Stedman Graham will teach a course this fall at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Evanston, IL.

The two will teach a fully accredited, two-hour, 45-minute business management and strategy course titled "Dynamics in Leadership" one night a week for 10 weeks.

"It has always been a dream of mine to teach," said Winfrey. "We share the same beliefs in the importance of dynamic leadership in this country."

Winfrey and Graham are drawing up a reading list and tests for the course which is eagerly anticipated by students.

It is the first paid teaching job for the award-winning talk show host. Graham has taught a business course on sports marketing at the school for two years.

Winfrey and Graham decided to team up for a course after a friend proposed the idea to the business school's dean.

Rich Honack, assistant dean and director of marketing and communications for the school said, "The feedback we're already getting from MBA students has been phenomenal because she is truly admired, especially by the women and minority students who see her as someone who has made it."

So, how much will Winfrey, who was America's fourth highest-paid entertainer last year when she raked in $125 million, get paid for her work as an educator?

"She gets the standard rate for an adjunct professor," said Assistant Dean Honack.

"Any of us who teach, we get the same," he said.