The Division of Campus Life launched Leadership Emory, a new initiative designed to unify the way the University teaches leadership to students, this semester.
The initiative identifies Campus Life or other Emory programs that develop one or more of Leadership Emory's Five Core Tenets. Students can then choose the programs in which they want to be involved during their time at Emory based off of these tenets.
Dean of Students Bridget Riordan said the initiative is important to teach leadership to students who are involved in a variety of extracurricular activities on campus. For example, a student who is both a Resident Advisor and an athlete may hold two different leadership positions, but Leadership Emory uses the same model of leadership to teach them how to lead in both places, she said.
A long-term goal of the program is to develop a reputation for producing excellent leaders, according to Riordan.
She said she hopes that, in the future, schools and employers will recruit Emory graduates because they will know Emory students consistently develop leadership skills under this initiative.
Riordan said another goal of the initiative is to eventually affect every undergraduate student at Emory. After achieving this aspiration, the initiative plans to reach out to graduate students as well.
The Division of Campus Life has also discussed the possibility of teaching a class on leadership, according to Riordan.
The tenets, which the initiative aims for all Emory students to embody by the time they graduate, include awareness of self and empathy with others, ethical leadership principles and practices, collaboration and problem solving, sharing the "commitment to action" and ethical engagement and citizenship.
These tenets are based on the Social Change Model of Leadership, according the Leadership Emory website. The social change model is a system of individual, group and societal or community values that promote change.
Ultimately, Riordan stressed the desire of the Division of Campus Life to integrate leadership development into every student's Emory experience.
"We want students to be able to come to Emory and know they're going to be an incredible biologist," she said. "But we also want them to know they will develop leadership skills."
– By Elizabeth Howell
