About Us
Our Directors
Founder/CEO Thomas W. Nowlin, PhD, MDiv
Wanda Michelle Posey
Martha Jane Nowlin
Our History
Over the years, I have observed not everyone has a voice or place at the table of public discourse and by extension public policymaking. When the voices of minority groups, for example, are ignored or minimized, they often become disadvantaged and disenfranchised. This disadvantage becomes embedded in the very structures of society, including its legal and government representational structures. Because of this, our communities suffer and become unhealthy. How does this happen?
My observations over the years have revealed that voices are ignored and silenced for failure of ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is that which seeks to garner the collective wisdom of all the voices in the formation of our democratic society. Too often, leadership is toxic or unethical, willfully privileging the voices of some over others. The formation of the Arkansas Center for Ethical Leadership seeks to provide the needed impetus for all the voices of our democracy to be fairly represented and heard. The health and well-being of our communities and society require this.
When I was in graduate school, I began to research how to go about seeking to address this problem. What is clear is that space must be made for all the voices to be heard at the table for public discourse. Otherwise, it is not truly public and does not qualify as public discourse. As things stand, a few voices seem to dominate the conversation, and many voices are not heard. Other voices are made to believe that their voices do not matter. Even worse, these voices are maligned or misrepresented. ACEL has been created to make space for the other voices in Arkansas.
Tom Nowlin
Our Mission
The mission of the Arkansas Center for Ethical Leadership (ACEL) is to create, promote, protect, and/or strengthen an inclusive and unifying ethical religious and secular leadership voice for justice and peace in the state of Arkansas. ACEL offers a critical leadership voice to help establish an ethical religious and secular leadership in Arkansas based on its core values of pluralism, hospitality, intellectual faith, justice and peace, accountability, and transparency.