Fall 2017 - 60925 - PA 388L – Advanced Topics in Management

Leadership as a Catalyst for Community Change

 

This course, which aims to prepare effective community leaders, rests on two fundamental assumptions. First, everyone has the capacity to lead. A leader is a catalyst for change, takes personal and social responsibility to work with others for a common good and is guided by core values. Second, effective leaders work collaboratively as they build sustainable communities to bring about social change. Key organizing principles for this class include leadership, social change, civil society and community building.

In light of this view of leadership and community change, this course enables students to strengthen their community leadership capacity in two ways:

By articulating and refining a guiding philosophy of leadership.
By enhancing their capacity to work in concert with others on substantive issues or situations to catalyze change in their communities.

Requirements and Expectations

Student progress will be evaluated on the basis of a core assignment—the Leadership Development and Community Building Plan, which consists of the following components:

Strengths Finder Inventory Paper
Community Building Plan Paper
Personal Philosophy of Leadership Paper
Oral Presentation of Personal Philosophy of Leadership and Community Building Plan

Readings

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New York, NY: Gallup Press.


Schmitz, P. (2012). Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.