Seminar on enhancing student leadership to be held throughout school year

A seminar on enhancing student leadership at Western Washington University will be taking place over the course of the academic year.

The seminar, part of the Western Leadership Advantage, is sponsored by the Karen W. Morse Institute for Leadership, the L.E.A.D.S. program and the Department of Human Resources.

Western faculty and staff help students excel in their academic, professional, personal and civic pursuits. In the course of this work, faculty and staff formally or informally find themselves in positions of influence in regard to students’ development as future leaders. To this end, the coming seminar will give participants exposure to literature on leadership development while allowing them to share ideas with interested colleagues from throughout the university and translate their learning into enhanced practices that facilitate the development of student leaders.

To guarantee an interactive format, the seminar will be limited to 12 participants.

The seminar will meet six times throughout the academic year from 7 to 9 p.m. on the following Mondays: Oct. 17, Nov. 14, Jan. 30, Feb. 27, April 16 and May 14.

Session Agendas:

• Session 1 - 10/17: Orientation, discussion of objectives, scheduling of participant presentations and discussion of introductory readings on leadership development.
• Sessions 2-5 - 11/14 – 4/16: Discussions of readings, conversations with invited guest experts and scheduled presentations by participants on their work in developing student leaders in their program or work unit.
• Session 6 - 5/14: Reflections on the seminar and discussion of “take-aways” by participants.

Follow-up: As a sequel to the seminar, a follow-up session to be scheduled in fall 2012 will bring participants together to share stories on how the seminar led to new learning, research, teaching and professional development.

Facilitators will be Joseph E. Garcia, director of the Karen W. Morse Institute for Leadership, Reneé Collins, associate dean of students, and Nick Sanchez, senior human resources associate.

All full-time faculty and staff at WWU are eligible to apply.

To apply, please submit the following:  

• Brief biographical statement
• A one-page curriculum vitae or résumé
• A one-page explanation of why you are interested in the seminar and a description of how the seminar relates to your development as a professional.  

Applications should be sent by noon on Oct. 6 to wendy.knight@wwu.edu.

For more information, contact Joe Garcia at (360) 650-3916 or Wendy Knight at (360) 650-2292.