Leslie Pendleton

As Director of the Florida Opportunity Scholars Program at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Florida, Leslie works with 1,400 first-generation and low-income students. When Leslie began working at UF in 2006, she completed Gallup's StrengthsQuest Educator and the Clifton Strengths School's Strengths Advocate program. Since that time, Leslie has become the strengths point person at UF, coordinating campuswide strengths-based programs, events, and roundtable discussions with faculty and staff. She uses StrengthsQuest with participants in the Florida Opportunity Scholars Program and delivers presentations about how strengths relate to self-awareness, teamwork, and staff development.

Leslie earned her master's degree in higher education and student affairs from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and her bachelor's degree in political science from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Her top five talent themes, as identified by the Clifton StrengthsFinder, are Strategic, Maximizer, Includer, Responsibility, and Learner.