Exploring The Possibilities
“Everyone talks about leadership, but most people aren’t
able to give a clear definition,” says Carol Clyde, director of SMU’s Office of Leadership and Community Involvement.
“We provide students with the tools and opportunities to investigate what leadership means to them.”
Clyde’s office sponsors several programs to meet the demand for basic leadership training across majors. Last fall, 30 students participated in the new Leadership Certificate Program. Free to all SMU students, the program involves nine hour-long workshops during a semester, as well as six community service hours and a reflection paper.
“We help students develop the soft skills that employers value: the ability to communicate effectively, manage their time and projects, and even how to handle failure,” she says.
A student-run program called Leadership Education, Activities and Development (LEAD) offers Emerging Leaders, a competitive development program for up to 50 first-year students.
Kevin Maher, 2008 chair, credits Emerging Leaders with motivating him to become more involved on campus. “You meet a broad spectrum of people who expose you to other opportunities – on campus, in Dallas and beyond,” he says. “It’s an excellent networking tool.”
Maher, a junior economics major with a minor in business, has served on the University Honors Program Advisory Council and is a member of The Union, a new student organization that promotes class giving as part of The Second Century Campaign.
LEAD board member and first-year student Saira Husain chairs the Crain Leadership Institute, a one-day campus event open to all Dallas-Fort Worth college student leaders. She’s also a President’s Scholar, a member of the Student Foundation, the Muslim Student Association and the Student Senate Scholarship Committee.
“I want to be a physician, and the skills that I’m developing now not only help me communicate with my peers, but also in organizing and influencing change where it’s needed,” she says. “Those skills apply to all facets of my life.”
“We help students develop the soft skills that employers value: the ability to communicate effectively, manage their time and projects, and even how to handle failure.”
Engineering graduate student Daniel Liu already has accepted a business technology analyst job with Deloitte and believes his myriad extracurricular activities aided him in landing the plum post. “The leadership skills I’ve cultivated here, especially effective communication skills, helped me stand out from other candidates,” he says.
In his five years of undergraduate and graduate studies at SMU, Liu has held an impressive array of titles: student moderator for the Tate Lecture Series, student representative to two Board of Trustees committees and Resident Assistant in Peyton Hall.
In March he led 13 students on an Alternative Spring Break trip to Taos, New Mexico. He participated in the joint project with Habitat for Humanity last year and stepped up to pilot the SMU effort this year.
“It’s a great opportunity to do something worthwhile and productive over spring break,” Liu says.
Finding A Voice … Click here to read more.