ANNA CHANG-YEN - Daily Herald | Posted: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 11:00 pm
Employers want more than "straight A" students. They want leaders.
That's the premise of a new program that will put 30 Utah Valley State College students in an apartment complex and teach them leadership skills.
Bruce H. Jackson, director of the Center for the Advancement of Leadership at UVSC, said the new Presidential Leadership Program will impart "all of the necessary components of how human beings engage their world which don't ever get taught formally in colleges or high schools."
The Center will announce by the end of May the first 30 students who will participate in the program beginning next year. They will live in an apartment complex adjacent to campus and pursue the Center's 10-step leadership certification process.
Jackson said leadership skills are vital to employers but don't receive much prominence in formal education. "They're captured by accident by most students who happen to find a good coach or a good mentor who teaches them these things or they read 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' or go to a workshop. Most of that happens on the side, but it's not something that we as a society think is necessary."
Carlee Johnson, a junior business and psychology major at UVSC, was the first recipient of another scholarship program offered by the center in 2004. "I really think that a large part of being successful with any employer or any organization you're with is your communication skills and maybe some of the outside skills you might not find getting a straight A 4.0 and passing your tests 100 percent," she said. "For me, I really feel a lot of my qualities I take away with me are maybe not qualities I learn in the classroom but qualities I've learned in leadership here at UVSC."
Students accepted into the program will receive a $750 stipend per semester for up to two years. Living near each other will help students carry over their learning into their personal lives. "Learning communities not only enrich the academic experience of the students but they also are great for retention and the overall quality of the student's education," Jackson said.
President Bill Sederburg will meet with the students monthly, a rare step for the leader of a campus UVSC's size, said assistant to the president Cameron Martin. "He sees the need, cross-discipline, for students to develop and mature in their leadership skills. Whether they want to go into nursing, fine arts or business, leaders are needed."
The program will cost about $70,000 a year, and the first year's funding was allocated in the 2006-2007 budget, Martin said.
Although students participating in the program will be expected to receive leadership certification, Jackson said students can earn certification by completing 10 steps, including mentoring, keeping a journal, taking leadership courses, writing self- and peer-assessments, working on team projects, interviewing business leaders and compiling a portfolio.
Johnson said her leadership training led her to a position with the Associated Students of Utah Valley State College. "I've learned communication skills I don't think I would've learned in a classroom setting."
Anna Chang-Yen can be reached at 344-2549 or annac@heraldextra.com.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.