Leadership and Social Change Certificate

Wesleyan Certificate in Leadership and Social Change

The Wesleyan Leadership and Social Change Certificate Program is designed to provide students with the opportunity to grow and develop leadership skills grounded in the ethos of social change. All students will be exposed to principles of effective leadership and the social change model of leadership. Students earning a certificate in leadership and social change at Wesleyan College will be prepared to begin work in vocational paths that require experience with advocacy, social change models, organizational change strategy, and service and nonprofit leadership. Importantly, these Wesleyan students will also be able to articulate how their academic course of study has better prepared them for such positions and conversely how their experiential learning in the certificate program has prepared them to be leaders in career fields within and beyond their academic majors and minors.

Specific student learning outcomes include:

1. Students will learn the basic principles of the Social Change Model of Leadership and learn how to apply those principles to their own leadership experience.
2. Students will learn about their own leadership style and strengths and how best to leverage that in leadership opportunities.
3. Students will reflect on their leadership experiences and develop a confidence in their ability to lead.
4. Students will develop an understanding of how service and leadership intersect and how best to become a critical Servant Leader, one attentive to questions of power and privilege.
5. Students will understand philosophies of power, leadership, and social change, and be able to articulate their own philosophies.
6. Students will gain hands on experience in community leadership, advocacy, and social change, providing them with transferable skill sets for postgraduate study and work.
7. Students will learn how individual, organizational, and societal oppression intersect and engage in models of advocacy and leadership to address oppression.

Program Components and Curriculum

1. Completion of the following four courses: WIS 110: Transition to College , LED 207 /PHI 207: Effective Leadership in Community , LED 307 /PHI 307: Power and Service Leadership , and REL 450 /PHI 450/LED 450: Senior Project Seminar .*
2. Participation in a Wesleyan leadership activity with required reflection on the activity. (e.g., SLI, Servant Leadership scholars, SGA or club President, PDE with a leadership component.)
3. The completion of at least 25 hours of Lane Center approved service hours (students wishing to compete the leadership certificate must register with the Lane Center to have their service hours tracked).
4. Presentation during Celebrating Student Scholarship day on their senior year capstone project, which will be completed in the senior seminar.

*** Transfer or other students who did not take WIS 110  may request permission to substitute another leadership centered course or experience for WIS 110 .

** Successful completion of the above components and student progress in the program will be monitored by the Director of Interdisciplinary Programs in consultation with the Director of the Lane Center.