UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 10
November 7, 1996
New leadership program will use campus as lab

     Know a freshman or sophomore with outstanding leadership
potential? Student nominations are being sought from faculty and
staff now through Nov. 13 for the first course in a new,
experimental University-wide program that will link the academic
and student life components of leadership education.
     Building upon and extending student-initiated efforts,
including "Leadership 2000," the new program was designed by a
committee chaired by Robert Denhardt, Charles P. Messick
Professor of Public Administration. This committee was part of
the Leadership Development Task Force appointed last fall by
Roland Smith, vice president for student life, and chaired by
Marilyn Prime, director of student centers.
     The first course in the program, "Leadership, Integrity and
Change," will be offered in the spring. The problem-based,
experimental course (UNIV 167) will use current student concerns
at the University to illuminate critical leadership theories,
decisions, styles and skills, with a focus on integrity and
organizational change. Students will develop and use their
academic skills as they tackle concrete issues in student life
that require their direct participation. Competency-based
assessment will be used to evaluate student progress in key skill
areas.
     "We concluded that there were insufficient institutionalized
mechanisms that encourage students to see themselves as potential
leaders in an open, democratic society," Denhardt said.
"Leadership development programs exist at other universities; the
UD program is innovative because it draws upon the students'
experiences on campus, out in the community and in their academic
program in mutually reinforcing ways, enhancing all three.
     "The UD program aims to supplement students' academic
preparation; enhance their participation in, and benefit from,
campus life; build a bridge between their participation in
student life and in the wider community and their academic
programs of study; and better prepare them to assume the
responsibilities of leadership in a democratic society," he said.
     Two sections of 25 students each will be competitively
selected for this new leadership course.
     For more information about the course, check the web site:
www.udel.edu/univ/univ167/
     "Nominations will be critical to identifying students who
might not think of themselves as leaders or be active in student
organizations now, but who have the ability and energy to
contribute more fully to student life," program director Audrey
Helfman, who will teach the course, said.
     To nominate a student or students, contact Helfman by phone
831-1708 or by e-mail at ahelfman@udel.edu
     "Integrity is key to the program," Smith said. "Leadership
today means being able to manage organizational change with
integrity and respect for everyone involved in, or affected by,
the process. Leaders must know how to act in ways that are
consistent with their beliefs and values, even under pressure not
to do so."
     The leadership education program will have its academic home
this year in the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy and
would move to the proposed new college expected to be formed by
the reorganization of the colleges of Education, Human Resources
and Urban Affairs and Public Policy.
     "This leadership education program will help students weave
the knowledge they gain on campus together with the experiences
they have as members of the wider community," Dan Rich, dean of
the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, said. "The
students will gain skills-in analysis and deliberation, team
building, problem solving, negotiation, mediation, cooperation
and decision making in multicultural settings-that they will use
at the University and take with them when they graduate. These
same skills are part of responsible citizenship in a democratic
society and of successful careers in a global economy."
     A second experimental course, targeting juniors and seniors,
will emphasize the challenges faced by leaders in their
professions and within their communities. This second course will
be offered next fall, and nominations for potential students will
be sought in the spring from University faculty and staff for
that course.
                                              -Mary Helen Callahan