Leadership Experience integrates diverse practical experiences with leadership concepts so that students can serve as informed, proactive leaders in various Honors College initiatives. The course utilizes a combination of small group discussions on leadership theory with opportunities for Honors College students to demonstrate their personal leadership styles.
A 2016 Pew Research study found that the political polarization in the U.S. continues to deepen and grow more hostile, and the widening economic disparities predicted by the July 2019 McKinsey Global Institute report The Future of Work in America are likely to further accentuate our national divides (Blumenstyk, 2019). In response to these alarming trends, this course takes an innovative approach to prepare students to be citizens more capable of addressing a politically divisive environment, locally and globally. Serving as a civic learning “laboratory,” the Civic Leadership Dialogues offer students the opportunity to acquire the “democratic knowledge and capabilities” that can only be “honed through hands-on, face-to-face, active engagement” (A Crucible Moment, AAC&U, 2012).
