Award Title
Leaders of Tomorrow
Awards Categories
Student Union, Student Activities, Greek Life, Leadership and related
Executive Summary
The Leaders of Tomorrow program is an innovative and collaborative program which combines
hands-on leadership skill building with business and community networking. The program
thrives based on partnership with academic programs such as the Honors program and the
College of Business. Further, it serves a need from the local community while providing a highquality out-of-classroom experience to students at virtually no cost to them.
Award Description
If you stop at just about any college campus in the country, you're likely to see posters
advertising a leadership program. Students often are required to attend a certain number of
speaker events and then receive some certification of their leadership skills. The Leaders of
Tomorrow (L.o.T.) program at Minnesota State University is far different. I encourage the
awards selection committee to go to http://www.mnsu.edu/activities/leadership/ at any time and
then click the link to view the program schedule including learning outcomes and assessment.)
First, the Leaders of Tomorrow program is successful because of the partnership with academics,
especially the Honors program. During development, specific learning outcomes and
competencies of the Leaders of Tomorrow program were aligned with the Honors program
learning outcomes. These outcomes are made explicit to students at the beginning of the seminar
and each session, and are followed-up with discussion and written self-reflection on learning
after the sessions. The Honors Director was instrumental in recruiting sophomore Honors
students to participate, and he remains engaged with the program and students throughout the
semester. The addition of the Honor Program collaboration this year has made an immediate
impact on the intentionality of the program. Further, collaboration has also occurred with the
College of Business wherein C.O.B. students join Leaders of Tomorrow participants for certain
events. Business faculty are considering having the program be a requirement for a course next
academic year.
Second, the program fulfills needs at both the University and community level. Until three years
ago, Minnesota State University had no signature leadership training for students. The Leaders of
Tomorrow program has attracted Presidential Awards scholars, Honors students, Student
Senators, Greek leaders, and members of the general student body. For the community, Greater
Mankato Growth (Mankato's Chamber of Commerce) has an interest in keeping the excellent
leaders produced by Minnesota State University here in Mankato. A unique feature of the
program is that L.o.T. students are invited to attend a variety of local business events where they
are openly encouraged to meet some of Mankato's highest profile successful business leaders.
Students have to apply business networking skills taught in an earlier session to these events in
order to make connections, and the business leaders are afforded the opportunity to gauge talent.
Third, as the example of the business networking events show, the Leaders of Tomorrow
program is an engaging competency-based program designed to increase students' awareness of
their leadership skills and to build upon those skills. For example, hands-on communication,
problem solving, and group challenge activities were lead by members of the Adventure
Education program at Minnesota State, another example of academic collaboration. The next
session involved business communication and networking training involving several rounds of
practice by participants in a business setting. Other sessions focused more on internal leadership
aspects such as finding passion and purpose and Strengths-Based Leadership concepts.
When the program started three years ago, the cost was $500 per student. However, by utilizing
on-campus resources and working with the city of Mankato to develop a student rate to the
business networking events, I was able to reduce the cost to $50 per student. Because of the great
value to students, the Honors program pays for any Honors students participating, and I am able
to cover costs for the remaining students from my leadership budget. Given the scope of the
program, this represents a financially sustainable program at a great value to students.
Finally, the program represents good practice in structure for students and sustainability for staff.
The first iteration of this program featured many required events for students that were overly
taxing of their time as well, costly, and challenging for staff to manage. The program in that form
was not sustainable. The second iteration provided a variety of opportunities, but a lack of
structure. Instead of being appealing to students because of the flexibility, students lost interest.
This version of the program shows that learning can occur in the case of campus programming in
order to meet student needs. The current Leaders of Tomorrow program features both "core"
events (1-2/month) and then a variety of "optional" events (as they arise). Utilizing talented
graduate staff who have an interest in leadership programming also helps the program workload
be manageable.
The Leaders of Tomorrow program then represents a unique collaborative effort to provide
students with a quality leadership experience, connected with academics and the community, in a
sustainable way.
Assessment Data
In its first semester of the most recent iteration of the award, assessment data is limited.
However, you may view the assessment rubric on the attached document which shows the
syllabus and learning outcomes. Self-reports from students to date reveal that they find the
activities challenging and beneficial. Students are required to reflect upon each activity and
learning that occurred. One feature of the program is to experience the leadership learning in the
context of "global leadership". As such, a conscious effort has been made to involve students
from other countries in training events and to feature business networking events that involve
non-native business leaders. Students have submitted their reflections after events to date and
will compile their assessments of learning into a portfolio at the end of the semester. Again, the
assessment rubric can be viewed from the link listed above.