From Command to Community: A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges and Universities

6: Educating for Democratic Leadership at Stanford, UMass, and Providence College

Educating for Democratic Leadership at Stanford, UMass, and Providence College � Tania Mitchell, Virginia Visconti, Arthur Keene, and Richard Battistoni This chapter examines the power of sustained, developmental, cohortbased curricular programs on student leadership through civic engagement. We do this by describing and analyzing three models at three different institutions of higher education. These models have been in existence for at least a decade: Stanford University’s Public Service Scholars Program; the Citizen Scholars Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and the Public and Community Service Studies Program at Providence College. The goal of this book is to introduce a “new leadership” that emphasizes relationship over position and action over attainment. We argue that students’ connection to this new leadership is at least in part fostered through civic engagement —specifically, a curricular program that builds civic agency and challenges participants to see themselves as engaged scholars and actors working for a better world. This notion of leadership is centered in community and the common good. Not driven by the idea of being in charge, the new leaders who are targeted through these programs are looking to contribute in meaningful ways. The increasing number of opportunities on college and university campuses for students to participate in service has made them more aware of the issues and concerns facing communities. This growing awareness has, in turn, inspired students to take action. For this generation of students, leadership education prepares them to engage collaboratively in and with communities for positive social change. We argue that a sustained, developmental, curricular approach to civic engagement , one that attempts to build on the single course, single experience civic or service learning opportunities that shape most students’ college years, is better able to engender new civic leaders, because it creates students who invest in community through service, scholarship, and action. In addition to describing each program in some detail, we analyze why these kinds of curricula work to enhance 116 practices student leadership through civic engagement, as well as the challenges to implementing similar programs on other campuses. Conceptual Framework: Civic Identity and the New Leadership Knefelkampdescribesthevalues,skills,andactionsof“fullyengaged,fullyhuman citizens” who have a more developed civic identity. She says: “They seek knowledge of both historical and contemporary conditions. They apply this knowledge using the skills and competencies they have developed, working independently and interdependently on whatever challenges they face. They approach these challenges with a sense of discernment, responsibility, and justice seeking. They are both idealistic and realistic, patient and persistent, committed to thoughtful engagement and aware that others may engage differently. They see their role in life as contributing to the long-term greater good. And perhaps most importantly, they have the courage to act” (2008, p. 3). This heightened sense of civic identity, which leads directly to civic action, is key to the new student leadership defined in this volume and elsewhere (see Colby et al. 2007). For students to reach this level of civic leadership requires “opportunities for agency and industry, for social relatedness, and for the development of political-moral understandings” (Kahne and Sporte 2008, p. 742), and sustained, developmental, cohort-based curricular programs provide the environment, structure, and impetus to engender this commitment to engaged citizenship and leadership. A Sustained, Developmental Approach One criticism of traditional civic engagement programs has been “that one assignment , one semester, is not enough” to create a sustainable change in either the individual or the community (Bickford and Reynolds 2002, p. 234). A sustained civic engagement program serves to support civic identity and leadership development by creating opportunities over time for students to work on issues and concerns in increasingly complex roles; to invest deeply in an issue, agency, or relationship that creates connection and a sense of belonging; and to create community both on and off campus that builds the critical awareness and skills necessary to take action and mobilize others in meaningful and constructive ways. Developing a civic identity that results in a commitment to leadership and active citizenship is a process that takes time and requires persistent engagement (Knefelkamp 2008; Youniss et al. 1997; Roholt et al. 2009). The accumulation of experiences through a sustained process of engagement is believed to have a lasting effect on identity (Bronfenbrenner 1993), so the programs reviewed here require one to four years of involvement with increasingly complex tasks and ex- educating for democratic leadership 117 periences. The sustained, developmental approach honors the environment...