Most colleges would scoff at the idea of leadership as a major.
The seemingly understandable reasons for that are twofold. For one, leadership can be an abstract concept and not as concrete as say, math, or analyzing
English literature. The second reason, of course, is leadership, at least in conventional wisdom, comes from experienced and learned people — not teens who can’t even legally buy a beer.
But several colleges in the region have recently begun to address leadership in a more tangible way. It’s a sign colleges are recognizing, to some extent, that preparing students to enter the workforce requires a baseline of being able to lead people, projects and many times both. USF, for example, through its Muma College of Business, recently offered a 14-hour virtual class to earn a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate. The curriculum included several courses on how someone, at nearly any level, can lead that kind of change in a workplace. The University of Tampa, meanwhile, through its Learn and Lead Series, is offering a six-week course called Leading in a Post Covid-19 World — Certificate in Resilient Leadership.
Those classes offer concrete and tangible leadership lessons. (I’m currently enrolled in the resilient leadership course at UT.) New College of Florida, the state’s liberal arts honors college, is taking its leadership focus one step further, I think, with its Certificate in Leadership program.
When I first read about it, I thought New College, based in Sarasota, was an odd fit for a leadership certificate. The school is known locally more for its no-grading policy — it uses narrative evaluations — and its socially-conscious, left-leaning student body than producing reams of business leaders. (Not to say New College doesn’t have a boast-worthy roster of wildly successful business-focused alumni. It does, with a list that includes former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York William Dudley; nationally-known time management consultant and author David Allen; Hollywood producer Carol Flint; and many more.)
But the certificate program, I believe, is a solid way to engage students on some leadership concepts that will be valuable for them wherever they work and in whatever career they pursue. I recently spoke with the head of the school’s career education department, Dwayne Peterson, and the certificate’s head instructor and coordinator, Patricia Courtois, about the program. Courtois is a recently-retired marketing, branding and ad executive.
“We know New College students are interested in big changes and making a difference. But many of our students need some help in creating a signal to the market about what they can do. Liberal arts students sometimes have a hard time showing that,” says Peterson. “This shows them how to do it in the business world.”
