 Educational Administration:
Undergraduate Leadership Studies Program Answers Call to Encourage Better Citizenship
With the beginning of the fall 2008 semester, the School of Education became the academic home for two undergraduate courses in leadership studies: Introduction to Leadership and Advanced Leadership Theory.
Leadership education in higher education is the focal point of much discussion at the national level. A 2000 W.K. Kellogg Foundation report, Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change, called upon colleges and universities to do more to fight the erosion of leadership qualities in the United States. The report encourages higher education to find ways to nurture institutional traits central to developing leadership, including the ability to respectfully disagree, authenticity, collaboration, commitment to change, competence, empathy, self-knowledge, and shared purpose.
The Baylor Department of Educational Administration believes efforts to develop leadership studies courses will be a significant contribution to this end. Baylor 2012 articulates individuals have moral and ethical obligations to communities. Leadership education draws upon academic learning across the disciplines and emphasizes the importance of human institutions, promotes an understanding of responsible participation in economic and social systems, and fosters an ethic of citizenship and service to others in the name of Christ.
“I think that by studying leadership in a classroom setting, I can learn from others and become more effective in both my major and in life as a whole,” Baylor sophomore Kent Klaras says.
The School is exploring the possibility of offering a minor in leadership studies as early as fall 2009.
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