Student Leadership Opportunities

Incoming first-year students are nominated for the Leadership in Service scholarship based on their commitment to leadership and service to the common good. The award is valued at $2,500 per year for up to four years. Students are notified of their scholarships in the transparent four-year financial aid offer.

In order to maintain the LIS Scholarship, participants must complete a leadership opportunity each semester through Student Leadership Programs.

The Leadership in Service program is grounded the Framework for Leadership Development, preparing leaders for the Common Good.

Scholarship Renewal Requirements

In order to maintain the LIS Scholarship, participants must complete a leadership opportunity each semester through Student Leadership Programs. This opportunity must be at least three hours in length, and meet the intended learning objectives for the semester. Students will also complete an online reflection each semester.

First-Year Requirements

In the first semester, students will explore:

• The University's vision of Leadership for the Common Good
• One's potential to enact leadership
• Personal values as they relate to leadership

In the second semester, students will explore:

• An introduction to social responsibility in leadership
• The intersections between personal and group values
• Relationship-building for leadership

Second-Year Requirements

In the first semester, students will explore:

• How power, privilege, and structural inequity operate in local and global contexts
• The development of meaningful, inclusive, and reciprocal relationships
• Perspective taking and the role of power dynamics in leadership

In the second semester, students will explore:

• Group development and systems thinking
• Inclusive visioning and goal setting
• Collaborative action and creating change

Third-Year Requirements

In the first semester, students will explore:

• Witnessing Leadership in Service
• Social Responsibility & Social Justice
• Self-reflection and continuous development

In the second semester, students will explore:

• Practicing Leadership in Service
• Social Responsibility & Social Justice
• Receiving feedback and continuous improvement

Fourth-Year Requirements

As a capstone to the scholarship, in the first semester, students will:

• Develop a personal philosophy of leadership
• Assess their personal leadership competencies and identify times they have demonstrated these competencies

The UleaD Emerging Leaders Program is a cohort-based initiative for first-year students that will bring participants together for monthly sessions to develop a range of leadership skills and abilities such as effectively leading change, inclusive leadership, building meaningful relationships, inspiring others to act, and practicing self-care and resilience.

Program Goals

• Participants will be empowered to embrace their authentic talents, perspectives, values, and contributions to their community while exploring their own identity and reflecting on key aspects of their leadership style and vocation.
• Participants will develop a range of leadership skills and abilities such as effectively leading for change, engaging in difficult conversations, inspiring others to act, and building resilience through self-care
• Participants will build awareness of their own identity and socialization to understand how power and privilege operate in local and global contexts.
• Participants will engage in mentorship and relationship building in order to identify resources for continued growth and development during their time at UD.

The LEADMore: Leading, Engaging, and Advancing in Development Sophomore Leadership Mini-Course (UDI 254), spanning 8 weeks for 1 credit hour, is designed specifically for second-year students. LEADMore utilizes a student-centered approach to address challenges tied to the "Sophomore Slump." This course focuses on self-authorship, belongingness, decision-making, vocation and discernment, and good citizenship through experiential learning. This course aims to support sophomores through leadership development in relation to their academic, social, and personal needs.

Open to all Junior and Senior students, the Women's Leadership Immersion (WLI) is a cohort-based program designed to equip 30-40 junior and senior students with practical skills and prepare them for life after graduation. The program offers students a chance to explore leadership, networking, career advancement, and financial health in the context of navigating vocation. WLI examines vocation and leadership through the lens of the female experience, intersecting identities, and Marianist values while providing students with a cost-free experience. The program features on- and off-campus experiences, including a retreat, programming, and a closing brunch. The program is facilitated by a variety of female leaders from the University of Dayton and the greater Dayton community, and partnerships with over 15 Dayton businesses and organizations.

This program is open to all junior and senior students and requires a nomination and/or application.

The Fall Leadership Conference is an opportunity to explore and develop your leadership skills.

As a result of participating in the conference, students will be able to:

• Identify leadership as an action/value and not as a position/title
• Define leadership in terms of service to others
• Connect leadership skills to Marianist values
• Identify practical leadership skills useful on campus and beyond
• Commit to making one change in their classroom, organization, or community

The Leadership Series addresses the need for ongoing training and personal and professional development for student leaders at the University of Dayton. Participants will engage in workshops and/or online modules to strengthen their leadership knowledge, skills and abilities.

We currently offer dozens of live and online workshops to meet the needs of every leader.

The University of Dayton Student Leadership Awards recognize the accomplishments and contributions of undergraduate students, recognized student organizations and advisers. More than 25 awards are distributed each spring and honor students who display exceptional dedication and commitment, courage in the face of obstacles, empowerment of others, vision and more.

Leadership for the common good is a collaborative and values-driven process¹ through which individuals and groups interrogate and disrupt organizational and systemic dynamics² to positively transform communities.

This process takes place within one’s community and is guided by self reflection and understanding, relationships across difference, articulation of vision, and commitment to action.

Engagement in leadership promotes the development of the motivations, skills, competencies, and efficacy needed to create positive social change.

Each person has the potential to enact leadership.

Leadership development at the University of Dayton is framed through the lens of our Catholic and Marianist identity and emphasizes the following tenets:

• Potential  

  Leadership for the common good requires a recognition that each person has the potential to enact leadership and that each person has an ability to affect positive change. Competencies³: Efficacy, Resiliency

• Self-Awareness
  

  Leadership for the common good requires an awareness of one’s identities and values, an understanding of the communities to which one belongs, and a commitment to personal growth. Competencies: Self-Understanding, Personal Values, Scope of Competence

• Social Responsibility
  

  Leadership for the common good requires a commitment to the needs and legitimate aspirations⁴ of others and an understanding of how power, privilege, and structural inequity operate in local and global contexts. Competencies: Diversity, Inclusion, Social Justice, Social Responsibility

• Relationships
  

  Leadership for the common good requires a commitment to the development of meaningful, inclusive, and reciprocal relationships⁵ across multiple dimensions of difference. Competencies: Empathy, Perspective-Taking, Power Dynamics, Group Development

• Vision
  

  Leadership for the common good requires the development of a collaborative and mutually beneficial purpose and vision that promotes positive social change. Competencies: Systems Thinking, Vision, Goals

• Action
  Leadership for the common good requires a commitment to the practice of solidarity and to actions that actively support the good of all and of each individual. Competencies: Collaboration, Creating Change, Empowerment, Motivation
• Reflection and Growth
  

  Leadership for the common good requires a commitment to engaging in self-reflection and continuous development. Growth occurs through reflecting on and assessing one’s strengths and challenges with a focus on continuous improvement. Competencies: Receiving Feedback, Reflection and Application

1. Higher Education Research Institute. (1996). A social change model of leadership development guidebook. Version III. Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute.

2. Owen, J. E., HassellGoodman, S. and Yamanaka, A. (2017), Culturally Relevant Leadership Learning: Identity, Capacity, and Ecacy. Journal of Leadership Studies, 11: 48-54. doi:10.1002/jls.21545

3. Seemiller, C. (2014). The student leadership competencies guidebook: Designing intentional leadership learning and development.

4. Vatican Council, & Flannery, A. (1996). Vatican Council II: The basic sixteen documents : constitutions, decrees, declarations. Dublin, Ireland: Dominican Publications. (as cited in the Commitment to Community)

5. Heft, J. L., SM. (2001). Leadership in the Marianist Tradition. Dayton, OH: University of Dayton.

Special thanks to Tulane University’s Office of New Student and Leadership Programs for the inspiration to develop and present our leadership framework in this way.