This course, which aims to prepare effective nonprofit and 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 and ethics. Second, effective leaders work collaboratively as they build sustainable communities to bring about social change. Key organizing principles for this class include leading and living with intention, 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: (1) by articulating and refining a guiding personal philosophy of leadership; and (2) by enhancing their capacity to work in concert with others on substantive issues to catalyze change in their communities.
This course takes a broad view of what counts as “community,” enabling students to develop the means to influence a community in keeping with their commitments and vision. The course is open to diverse graduate students who want to develop their leadership philosophy and skills to impact those within their sphere of influence. Given this focus, the pace and content of this course will be driven, in part, by the individual and collective interests of the students who take the course.