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STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MINUTES

1. ADMIN BUSINESS:

- Meeting was called to order at 12:37 PM on Thursday, 26 Oct in classroom 107 of Mechanical Hall.  The following members were in attendance:

Dr. Roland Smith (VP Student Life) Elizabeth Briggs (student)
LTC Paul Pusecker (SLDC Chair) Marilyn Prime (admin)
Elaine Stotko (faculty) Eric Norman (admin)
Mary Ann Rapposelli (admin) Mike Vaughn (faculty)
LTC C. Bowman (faculty) Karen Stein (faculty) 
Christine Cappello (admin) P. Stavis-Hicks (admin)
MAJ John Casper (faculty) Cynthia Cummings (admin)

- Introduce/acknowledge new members (Elaine Stotko - CHEP; Mary Ann Rapposelli – Rec Svs)

- Dr. Smith expressed his pleasure on the work already accomplished by the committee and challenged the committee to assume an even greater role in promoting leadership on campus.  He concluded by stating that he is already beginning to see the crosswalk between the academic leadership classes offered on campus and students that have taken those classes filling leadership positions in student life.

- Dr. Smith and LTC Pusecker presented certificates of appreciation to Team Leadership for their tremendous efforts in coordinating the Leadership 2000 Conference on September 17th.
 

2. OLD BUSINESS:

- Marilyn Prime-Team Leadership: Conducted an After-action review of the Collaborative Leadership Conference, 17 Sep: the majority of the students in attendance believe that they gained useful skills and learned new things about themselves by participating in the conference.  The only negative comment from students was the overall length of the day.  Future conferences will probably end prior to the dinner that was served this year.  If that is the case then the conference expenditures would be reduced as food costs were 80% of the overall budget for the event. 

- Eric Norman - Group 1 – Building Strong Student Organizations: Provided the committee with a sub-committee update.  He has compiled much research on the leadership training programs of over 50 other colleges and universities.  Although most of these universities have more developed plans and web-sites, he concluded that the University of Delaware is currently offering about 75% of the programs that universities with schools of leadership are offering.  Two major programs that UD is currently lacking are in the areas of Mentor programs and Co-curricular leadership transcripts.  The leadership transcript produced copious discussion on how and what type of program that we could institute at UD.

- Cynthia Cummings - Group 2 - Empowering Individuals: Provided a synopsis of the discussions generated at the sub-committee meeting the previous day. The group is focusing its effort on three areas 

· Develop and administer a brief survey to determine why students don’t get involved and what efforts will encourage them to do so.
· Determine of compensation for student leaders is appropriate and if so, what type of compensation, and sources of funding.
· Investigate emerging leader courses on other campuses and determine applicability to UD.

- Paul Pusecker - Group 3 – Technology Information And Assessment: Provided an update on the evolution of a UD Student Leadership and Leader Development                   home page, which can be found at http://www.udel.edu/leadership
 

3. FUTURE BUSINESS: (For discussion/consideration at the next SLDC meeting)

- Next meeting tentatively scheduled for early December (details to follow).

- Meeting was adjourned at 1:59 PM on Thursday, 26 Oct

1.     ADMIN BUSINESS:

   -Meeting was called to order at 12:05 PM on Tuesday, 12 Sep in the Board Room of Hullihen Hall.  The following
   members were in attendance:

    -LTC Paul Pusecker (SLDC Chair)       -Chiara Ciotoli (student)
    -Ann Ardis (admin)                                -LTC C. Bowman (faculty)
    -Christine Cappello (admin)                   -David Belsario (student)
    -Elizabeth Briggs (student)                     -Eric Norman (admin)
    -Karen Stein (faculty)                            -Kathleen Kerr (admin)
    -Marilyn Prime (admin)                          -Cynthia Cummings (admin)
    -Mike Vaughn (faculty)                          -Roger Spacht (faculty)
    -P. Stavis-Hicks (admin)

   -Introduce/acknowledge new members (four students from RSA – only C. Ciotoli in attendance; Tina Martin-UD
Athletics; Mary Ann Rapposelli – Rec Svs)
 

   - ID best day/time for future AY00/01 meetings – consensus of those members in attendance was to look at Thursdays,
12:30 – 1:30 PM to maximize student involvement
 

2.     OLD BUSINESS:

   - Update/discuss the Collaborative Leadership Conference, scheduled for Sunday, 
17 Sep (Marilyn Prime-Team Leadership): 
            The Leadership 2000: Leading the Way to the Future conference, from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM in Smith Hall (17
Sep 2000) will be presented to over 400 students by 44 presenters in 18 rooms, with 36 possible break-out sessions.  During
the information fair, Team Leadership coordinated for 38 volunteer groups to be set up and distributing info to our student
leaders. Conference goal is provide student leaders with additional skills, knowledge, and abilities to be more effective, vibrant
campus leaders.  This is the FIRST time that a collaborative effort from Res Life, Student Centers, Greek Affairs, and Center
for Black Culture has been attempted.  Based on a thorough after-action review, the SLDC hopes that this effort becomes the
model for future student leadership forums. 

   -Distributed approved sub-committee topics/focus/goals (approved in late August 2000 by VP for Student Life (Dr
Roland Smith): 

          GROUP 1 – BUILDING STRONG STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 

Focus:  on existing student leadership structure, organizations, and development and integration processes
 

Goals:
a.  building stronger interaction between various student leadership groups on campus (remove stovepipe/silo mentality;
encourage/develop integration between student leadership organizations)
b.  examine what are other academic and non-academic organizations are doing/accomplishing with regards to developing
student leaders
c.  integrate/coordinate academic & non-academic student leadership initiatives - linkage across campus
d.  examine methodology for instilling/fostering ethics, values, integrity, and a sense of duty in student leadership organizations
 

GROUP 2 -  EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS

Focus: on the individual, specifically by encouraging the non-affiliated student/emergent student leader involvement in campus
leadership activities

Goals:
a.  to encourage additional student involvement in leadership activities/initiatives (get more students off the sidelines & into the
game)
b.  examine intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for leadership involvement – how to encourage/increase student involvement, need
for incentives/rewards for initial involvement (credit/cash), then development of intrinsic motivation?
c.  “deliverables” - seminars, conferences, classes (?), based on need assessments, that develop individual skills necessary to
foster leadership involvement, (e.g., mentoring; teamwork; development of negotiation skills; communicative processes; conflict
resolution/mediation; cultural impact/influences; deliberation and decision-making) 
 

GROUP 3 –  TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION AND ASSESSMENT

Focus: on leveraging technology to highlight SLDC efforts, developing effective assessment and evaluation
techniques/procedures, and developing external support base for Council initiatives

Goals:
a.  evolution of a UD Student Leadership and Leader Development homepage, linking all SLDC initiatives into a single .edu 
b.  explore how web-based programming and other media can be used to make SLDC efforts/products available to a wider
audience
c.  develop and implement effective assessment tools (surveys, evaluative processes) to assist Groups 1 and 2 
 

d.  establish effective means for students to review initiatives and provide feedback to the SLDC (two way commo) and
encourage student “ownership” in SLDC efforts (for initiatives to be effective, then students must accept/embrace them as their
own)
e.  seek external resources to support SLDC initiatives (corporate/civil sponsorship, internships, $$$, speakers/mentors, etc.)
 

3.     NEW BUSINESS:

   -Identify personnel composition of the three sub-committees (after solicitation of preferences and discussion in council, the
following is the SLDC approved sub-committee composition – please see LTC Paul Pusecker, Chair of SLDC with any
questions or resolution of issues/concerns):

Group 1 (Building Strong Student Organizations): 
Matt Abbott                         Christine Cappello
Vernese Edghill                     Kimberly Franchino
Kathleen Kerr                       Mandy Merritt
Tim Morrissey                      Marilyn Prime (Chair)
Mary Ann Rapposelli 
Roger Spacht 
Karen Stein 

Group 2 (Empowering Individuals): 
            Ann Ardis                                               David Balserio
            Chiara Ciotoli                                          Rebecca Curlett 
            Cynthia Cummings (Acting Chair)            Audrey Helfman
            Tina Martin                                             Mike McCloskey
            Eric Norman                                           Joe Pika
            Mike Vaughn

Group 3 (Technology Info/Assessment):
       Charlie Bowman                  Elizabeth Briggs
       John Casper                         Tom Gorczynski (RSA)
       Dallas Hoover                      Mike Pepper (AF web expert)
       Paul Pusecker (Co-Chair)    Praria Stavis-Hicks (Co-Chair)

    - Discuss MBNA proposed involvement in SLDC efforts in AY00/01: Informed the Council about our meeting (Paul
Pusecker, Karen Stein, & Eric Norman) with MBNA representatives and their expressed interest in getting involved in Student
Leadership Initiatives at UD.  The Council members were asked to consider this proposition and provide feedback to the Chair
on possible involvement venues.  Currently, MBNA is scheduled to assist by providing subject matter experts as guest
presenters for several CNST Leadership Minor classes (CNST 100, CNST 300, & CNSY 467).

4.     FUTURE BUSINESS: (For discussion/consideration at the Oct SLDC meeting)

   -Eric Norman (Group 2) will provide an update on external organizations’ efforts regarding student leadership initiatives
(web based search).

   -Each sub-committee (Group) will be prepared to discuss their specific actions in support of the group goals and provide
their “road map” for accomplishing goals/objectives for AY00/01

MEETING MINUTES

Present: Rebecca Curlett
Matt Abbott
Eric Norman
Cynthia Cummings
 

Purpose: the purpose of this sub-committee is to focus on getting students involved in leadership organizations and roles.

Cynthia distributed the Minutes from the 9/12/00 Council meeting which outlined the goals and requested that this sub-committee draft action steps to reach these goals.

The action plans offered by this group are to be presented to the Council at its meeting tomorrow, October 26th.  The group was allowed a few moments to review the goals and think about ideas for action steps.

Cynthia asked for reasons why students do not get involved in leadership organizations.  Eric found that freshmen wanted to start new groups, but having trouble getting them started.  Eric said that whenever there was a membership limit within a program, someone wants to start a new one.

Rebecca stated that time constraints (balancing work and school) is a major factor.  She feels that laziness may also be a factor – students just don’t like meetings.  Matt felt that students may not want to sacrifice social time, etc.

Cynthia asked for ideas to combat the lack of participation.  Eric suggested advertising (which is already being done).  Incentives may be a possibility; i.e. compensation, parking pass, etc.  A question with compensation is: should we pay for service to the University and community or should voluntary service be the norm?

Rebecca addressed the issue that some students have to work and do not have time to provide voluntary services.  Cynthia asked if students would be willing to give up some work hours if they were compensated to be a student leader?  Compensation would depend on the amount of hours dedicated to the leadership role.

Matt told the group about a conference he attended which included regional college leaders.  It seems that all in attendance, except the UD reps, were somehow compensated.  One example was discounts on housing.  This idea has been discussed at the RSA Executive Board meetings, but a concern was raised that students would join for the wrong reasons.  Rebecca was familiar with a room benefit of providing a double room to a single resident at the regular double room rate.  Eric suggested scholarships with corporate sponsors as another idea for compensation.

The group discussed developing an on-line survey to determine why students don’t get involved and what efforts might entice them to do so.  Rebecca felt this a good idea, but expressed that it might not be fully effective – i.e. asking students to fill out a paper survey in the dining halls as opposed to finding the time to fill it out on line.  The group agreed with Rebecca.

Eric spoke of an emerging leader class for freshmen that would build on itself (i.e. tracks: emergence, development, adaptation, etc.).  It would be co-curricular with limited attendance. Within Eric’s research of other colleges, he found emerging leader programs were limited to freshmen.  At completion of a program, a $1000 scholarship is awarded.  It was suggested that maybe UD look into this approach.  Cynthia feels that we are not targeting freshmen and are not enticing them.  Cynthia asked the group if this would have appealed to them as freshmen.  There were mixed responses, but generally positive.

It was agreed to investigate the emerging leader programs at other schools to determine if we should develop a course here.

A mentoring program (Center for Life Long Learning was an example) is another suggestion, and Cynthia shared her experience as a mentor.  She explained that it was meaningful not only to the student, but also to her.  Getting retired executives involved may be an idea.  Rebecca addressed a time constraint concern being a possible obstacle for this program, but suggested that it be a requirement in the emerging leader course.  The group agreed that mentoring as a requirement would be beneficial.

Eric suggested a compiled list of individual sessions and workshops that are already offered be available on the web, allowing students more resources for subject-specific programs; i.e. communications. 

The following Action Steps were agreed upon and will be offered at the Student Leadership Development Council meeting:

· Develop and administer a brief survey to determine why students don’t get involved and what efforts will encourage them to do so.

· Determine of compensation for student leaders is appropriate and if so, what type of compensation, and sources of funding.

· Investigate emerging leaders courses on other campuses and determine applicability to UD.

1. ADMIN BUSINESS:

· Meeting was called to order at 12:05 PM on Thursday, March 1, 2001 in the Board Room at Hullihen Hall. 

· The following members were in attendance: C. Bowman, L. Briggs, J. Casper,   A. Helfman, K. Kerr, M. Merritt, T. Morrissey, E. Norman, M. Prime,                 P. Pusecker, M. Rapposelli, P. Stavis-Hicks, K. Stein

2. OLD BUSINESS:
 
· Since the last meeting all committee members have had the opportunity to view the SLDC web page.  Comments included….

- The page is informative, but too formal
- The page doesn’t catch and hold your attention
- Add a link to the page that goes to University of Delaware Student Centers Activities & Programs page (UD A&P page has a link to SLDC)
- Possibly contact Chuck Tarver to assist in page design

· Marilyn Prime briefed the progress of the leadership transcript.  Information is available on how to use the transcript and the benefits of tracking individual competencies. The information is being distributed to RSO members at meetings and it is also posted on the Student Centers web site.

· The committee continued to discuss the implementation of a survey to determine why some students will seek leadership opportunities and others are content to be lead.  Several good ideas were generated to include …

- Targeting activities at LIFE clusters since those students have “self-identified” as potential leaders.  However, after some research on the LIFE clusters it was determined that the goal of the LIFE experience is not to develop campus leaders, but rather to create a small community of students within the larger campus setting, a community who can support one another in academic work as well as in the residential setting. The cluster students are to encourage each other, to support each other in a scholarly approach to studies, to become part of the campus community, and to have fun socializing together.  
- It was suggested that we work with Institutional Research (Karen Bower) to develop a sampling methodology.  Mandy suggested that any survey should include information to determine how students find out about activities and why they stay with some activities, but leave others.  Audrey noted that national surveys were already available with that type of information.  After much discussion, Paul asked sub-committee 2 to continue to work on producing a survey and sub-committee 3 would investigate getting the survey linked to the UD main homepage. 
 

3. NEW BUSINESS: 

· Paul Pusecker, the committee chair, articulated Dr. Roland Smith’s vision / guidance for this semester since he could not attend the meeting. 

- Continue to promote leadership opportunities across the campus to “cross-fertilize”  ideas amongst members of different groups
- Coordinate the academic v. non-academic progression of campus leaders.
¨ Track LEAD students into their junior & senior year to see what they have done with the leadership skills they gained in class
¨ Develop a mechanism for organizations and students to self-report activities that they have originated or sponsored
- Work on developing measurable goals in support of the student life strategic agenda
- Increase student participation on the SLDC committee.  Recommendations included….
¨ Recruit more students to be part of the SLDC committee until we get a 50-50 mix of faculty/staff & students
¨ Of those students recruited, try to get some students that are non-leaders or non-joiners.  All agreed that identifying a person like that might be tough since we all tend to work with the leaders.
- Generate media efforts to promote the positive work that is already being accomplished by student organizations everyday

4. FUTURE BUSINESS: (For discussion/consideration at the next SLDC meeting)

- Sub-committees continue to work actions
- Next meeting tentatively scheduled for mid-April (details to follow).

- Meeting was adjourned at 12:59 PM on Thursday, March 1, 2001