While there are well-established personal benefits to being a mentor, such as increased life satisfaction and job performance (Ramaswami & Dreher, 2007), how mentors grow and develop requires exploration. We meet this need by presenting six key themes from two recent research studies related to the experiences that mentors perceived as…

Socially responsible leadership (SRL) is a "purposeful, collaborative, values-based process that results in positive social change" (Komives, Wagner, & Associates, 2009, p. xii).This approach to leadership focuses on creating leaders that are capable of tackling the predicted wicked problems the world will face in the next few…

Expectations continue to evolve in today's work environment. An innovative practice between university and industry partners has emerged as a response to these expectations. In this trend, programs prepare college students with essential skills before entering the workforce. One such partnership created a leadership development program for…

In this innovative practice paper, we will illustrate how discursive practices of Visual Thinking Strategies[superscript TM] (VTS) can foster leadership development capacity of college students. We will show how VTS aligns with constructionist perspectives to post-heroic leadership grounded in discursive approaches to leadership development. This…

This innovative practice paper explains how a student-produced podcast is used as an educational tool to showcase leadership and ethics. It illustrates how podcasting provides a unique pedagogical experience for students to engage with leadership themes in a way that is accessible, practical, and relevant. In this example, the podcast episodes…

The dramatic increase of diversity on US college campuses has coincided with greater academic interest on the concept of inclusive leadership. The present literature provides a systematic analysis of literature from its forming phases in the early 1990s to its present condition. Priority publications were selected rigorously and then examined in…

It is widely understood that distinctive leadership programs must engage in assessment, and intentional program improvement practices. Design thinking can serve as one student-centered tool that engages students in the assessment process, while looping feedback into substantive programmatic changes. This paper explores the use of this innovative…

Leadership development programs have become widespread in higher education; over 1500 different programs had been registered with the International Leadership Association as of 2012 (Owen, 2012). Given the prevalence of these programs and the substantial institutional investments they require, examination of their purported impacts is a valid area…

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…

This article outlines a personal Journey Line Narrative exercise aimed at enhancing leader authenticity and effectiveness by asking students to "look back" and identify their core values, as well as the formative experiences that helped solidify those values. The Journey Line Narrative encourages reflection and self-awareness by asking…

Research has shown the value in both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs approaches to student leadership education and development, yet many curricular and co-curricular programs continue to operate independently. Institutions that offer both curricular and co-curricular leadership programs are uniquely positioned to leverage the expertise from…

This study explored the experiences of college staff members engaged in advancing LGBTQ equity at a small fine arts college in the Midwestern United States. This qualitative case study advanced a conceptual framework for queer leadership in higher education. Findings illuminate how campus leaders engaged queer leadership strategies and LGBTQ…

Numerous difficulties exist in employing psychometrically sound quantitative measures of leadership development that are both generalizable and brief. Here, we highlight our efforts in creating the Ready, Willing, and Able Leader (RWAL) Scale. This instrument of leadership capacity: (a) has been psychometrically validated for use with college…

This innovative practice paper explains a classroom leadership exercise that asks students to identify anonymous people as either Democrats or Republicans based only on brief descriptions. Students are challenged to explore the reasons behind the identifications they make, specifically confronting the trigger words that lead them to assign a…

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the learning experienced by second-year undergraduate students serving as peer mentors to first-year students within a leadership-themed living-learning community. A basic qualitative approach was used, with data collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with participants at the…