Leadership Certificate

The Student Leadership Certificate is a university-wide initiative designed to educate undergraduate campus leaders through the completion of course work, programs, activities, and experiences that provide a pathway to student success, development, and personal growth. The academic for credit certificate combines formal classroom instruction with out-of-class experiences to create a structured learning environment. The goal is to develop the whole student through knowledge acquisition, skill development, and civic engagement.

If you are already interested in learning more, schedule a meeting with Jessica Ashcraft.

Students can also declare their intent on complete the certificate on the College of Arts & Science's page.

A 12 credit hour (4 courses) Student Leadership certificate offered through Organizational Leadership program (ORGL) in the Department of Psychology, using existing faculty, staff, resources, and courses within ORGL and the Center for Student Involvbement.

The course provides an introduction to and an analysis of historical and current theories of leadership. It is designed for undergraduate students and focuses attention on research findings about leadership, skill development, and the application of leadership skills in daily interactions with others.

This course is designed to introduce students to the practice of leadership. Students will engage in a variety of individual- and team-based experiential activities, including a service learning engagement, in order to apply the theories and concepts learned about leadership in the Organizational Leadership foundation courses.

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with different types of program evaluation, including needs assessment, formative research, process evaluation, monitoring of outputs and outcomes, impact assessment, and cost analysis. Students gain practical experience through a series of exercises involving the design of a conceptual framework and development of indicators and an overall evaluation plan to measure impact.

Students entering the course and/or Student Leadership Certificate program must meet with the Center for Student Involvement to address the co-curricular hours and experiences needed to complete the practicum course. The academic portion of this course serves as a capstone for the student involvement experience and must be approved before registering for the course.

The Student LEADership Certificate co-curricular core requirements are separated into 5 different domains that align with the Center for Student Involvement's values.

• Inclusive Community
• Leadership
• Engagement
• Advocacy
• Discovery

Students will engage in both breadth and depth experiences in the above domains.

If interested finding out more, set up an appointment.  At the meeting, we will discuss your current and future co-curricular involvement outside of the classroom to discuss how it could apply to the practicum hours as part of the certificate. To learn more about Organizational Leadership, checkout the department website.

As a result of participation in the Student Leadership Certificate courses and co-curricular involvement, students will:

• Develop critical and reflective analytical abilities
• Exhibit responsible decision-making and personal accountability
• Demonstrate an understanding of group dynamics and effective team work
• Improve communication and presentation skills through practice
• Develop an array of leadership skills and abilities such as resolving conflict, motivating others, and effectively leading change
• Gain an improved sense of social responsibility and connectedness to the larger community through service
• Appreciate individual differences and increase their ability to work effectively with those different from themselves
• Learn and apply leadership concepts, theory, and processes through personal leadership application as well as in groups