Students in the ‘Art of Leadership’ course offered by the Faculty of Humanities work in groups during class. It’s ‘about helping students to develop better insights into themselves,’ and learning to ‘effectively relate to others,’ says Anna Moro, who led the development of the program.
BY Erica Balch
December 8, 2015
SHARE
How can students learn to become leaders at McMaster and in the workplace?
That’s the focus of The Art of Leadership, a new initiative developed by the Faculty of Humanities that explores how mentoring others can help students build critical leadership skills.
Open to students from all Faculties, the idea is to pair senior students with Level one mentees. Throughout the program, senior students learn basic leadership skills and put these skills into practice by providing mentorship support for level one students including international students in the MELD Program, as they navigate their first year at McMaster.
“We discuss classic leadership themes like leading change, understanding your core values, setting manageable short term and long term goals and finding ways to work towards those goals both inside and outside the classroom,” says Anna Moro, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Humanities who has been leading the development of this program.
“It’s also an opportunity for personal growth and reflection. Part of the purpose is to have students start to look back on their undergraduate experiences so they can better understand themselves as they prepare for a career or for graduate work.”
Introduced last year, this leadership/mentorship initiative provides senior undergraduates from all Faculties with formal mentorship and leadership training then pairs mentors with international students to help with the acculturation process.
Click image to read the Daily News story on the MELD program.
Moro says that while the program was designed to provide support specifically for international students, she found that the experience was equally valuable for the student mentors and set about developing a similar program to help students across campus build leadership skills through mentorship.
“I think what’s really appealing is that it’s practical and it applies to so many contexts,” says Moro. “It’s not just about leadership in a corporate context, it could be any context. It could be family, it can be a volunteer position you hold, it could be a job, it could be about group work in a course. How do you communicate so you get people to buy into a shared goal? These kinds of discussions really resonate for students.”
Lindsey Lees, a fourth year Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour student who took the Art of Leadership this semester, agrees.
“I signed up for this class with great hesitation, because I didn’t know how effective I would be at helping an international student whom I had never met,” says Lees. “But this experience has turned out to be so rewarding that we are going to continue to meet next semester as well. I’ve seen growth in my communication, teaching and socializing skills. The leadership material has been so applicable to many areas of my life. It’s always great when course material can actually be put into practice.”
The Art of Leadership is offered through two separate courses; a Level three mentorship course, which runs in both term one and term two, and a Level four leadership course. Students are graded and the courses count towards their degree.
Students can also opt to take this program as a volunteer experience and receive a Certificate of Attendance outlining the hours and training completed. All mentors receive a letter recognizing their efforts upon successful completion of the program.
Currently, the Art of Leadership is capped at 50 students per term, but Moro says the goal is to expand the program.
“This isn’t about your specific academic area. This is about those other skills that we all need whether you want to change the world on a big scale or a small scale; whether you want to be in a work environment, or continue in an academic environment,” says Moro. “This is about helping students to develop better insights into themselves, and helping them look for ways to effectively relate to others.”
The Faculty of Humanities is currently accepting applications for next semester’s Art of Leadership courses. Learn more about how to apply.
All republished articles must be attributed in the following way and contain links to both the site and original article: “This article was first published on Daily News. Read the original article.”
