Purpose: The Women in Leadership Development (WLD) Initiative is a year-long, multifaceted co-curricular leadership development opportunity created to support the unique developmental needs of emerging women leaders. WLD was intentionally designed around the context of second-generation gender bias with a firm grounding of research and theory on…

Purpose: The purpose of the current application paper is to integrate previous literature with recent results from practitioners on effective practices for utilizing small groups in the leadership classroom. Design/methodology/approach: We use these integrated findings to innovate practice on maximizing the role of undergraduate teaching…

Storytelling is one of many instructional strategies used in leadership education with the promise of providing transformative learning through individual and communal meaning-making. In this application manuscript, we offer examples and discussion of how learners identify storytelling in course design and approach, and their perception of its…

Blogging can be an effective way for students to increase their engagement with course content. Using their daily lives as a leadership laboratory enables students to observe leadership theories in familiar contexts. This application brief discusses a semester-long assignment where students were asked to reflect on, synthesize, and apply course…

Identity-based leadership courses support and engage more Latinx students in higher education by focusing on identity development and capacity building. Academic courses that take into consideration cultural relevance foster the academic persistence of undergraduate Latinx students and can support degree completion. This article explores the…

Many scholars have noted the critical skills needed for leaders in the face of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). These skills include self-awareness, listening, communication, adaptability, critical thinking, and collaboration. Students who are able to develop these skills would be better equipped to lead in settings where…

Several models of leadership outline theories on successful intervention such as "Observe, Interpret, and Intervene" within the Adaptive Leadership model (Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky, 2009) or the "Five Practices" within Kouzes & Posner's (2012) work. However, during stressful moments of leadership practice, many models…

Finding effective ways to reach today's college audience is challenging and social media is one way to attempt to meet students in their environment. This application brief discusses a course activity and assignment that combines the scholarship of leadership education with reflection about personal leadership behaviors through social media. This…

Using literature as the catalyst for change is grounded in Freirean pedagogy. In the case of the Oaks Leadership Scholars, leadership educators are crafting an environment for building transformative leadership skills using texts calling for the enactment of justice and equity as a starting point for capacity building and self-reflection. Students…

Leadership educators face unique challenges in identifying relevant reading materials for their courses. This paper explores the utility of course packs as a tool to address the limitations of traditional textbooks. We describe the process of development for designing a course pack for an undergraduate Leadership Education course. Following this,…

This article describes an innovative upper-level leadership studies minor course that was created to provide a transdisciplinary-type of experience for students. Seminar and student-led in format, the general framework of the course, Leadership in 'Major' Contexts, involved students identifying topics from their own major disciplines and…

Over the past decade, a growing number of institutions of higher education have added leadership studies as a formal academic program of study. In many instances, however, students have not been included as partners or stakeholders in the design and delivery of leadership education, and student motivation and retention have subsequently suffered…

Considering the role of higher education in preparing the next generation of leaders for social change, leadership education is challenged to consider how best to prepare young adults for socially responsible leadership. Service-learning and professional internships, separately, have been identified as vehicles for preparing young adults for…

Vision has long been a quality and characteristic defining leadership. To cultivate vision among undergraduate students in a course, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals are utilized as a foundation to inspire a vision that connects local service and personal interests to global, complex issues. Students select a goal to work with for…

To better meet the learning objectives in a multicultural leadership class, I developed an assignment that uses action research and community-based research as frameworks for the course's culminating assignment. Called the Community-Based Action Research (CBAR) assignment, the experience invites students to develop research questions related to…