Students and the President’s Task Force on Leadership Team Up to Promote Model Leadership

By Emily Rosser,
ENGL 336.001

Gather several of Frostburg State University’s most passionate faculty.  Give them several months to brainstorm, draft, and edit a strategy to train students to be the leaders of tomorrow.  Now, add a roomful of dedicated and experienced students who have already honed their leadership skills in the classroom, on the playing field, and in several extracurricular arenas.  Watch as synergistic sparks fly.

Such was the recipe for an electric atmosphere in the Lane Center’s Conference Room 111 on the afternoon of December 29th, where the President's Task Force on Leadership revealed the latest version of an FSU leadership competency model to the student body for the first time.  Dr. Jeff McCellan, an Assistant Professor in the Management Department, acted as moderator.  He wasted no time in getting started, beginning the meeting with the initiative, “What we want to do today is get student input for the leadership model we’ve developed.”  Indeed, a copy of the model was ready and waiting in front of each attendee--a crowd that ranged from presidents of Greek groups, to captains of sports teams, to students pursuing leadership minors.  Many were there at the invitation of the Assistant Vice President of the Office of Student and Community Involvement, William Mandicott, who sat and offered input alongside his constituents.  

This opportunity for feedback on the model, McCellan explained, was one of the final steps in its painstaking development.  After the creation of the Task Force, its members met and brainstormed a list of 50 to 60 competencies--or ideal qualities embodied by a successful leader--that they then refined through a campus-wide survey.  With the help of Dr. Ronald E. Riggio, a highly experienced and award-laden leadership professor and consultant based at Claremont McKenna College, the group condensed these results into a model that they hope will help faculty and staff inspire students to be effective leaders both in and out of the classroom (see graphic below).  This is the last round of student input that will be taken into consideration before the model is finalized and integrated into FSU policy.

Besides providing FSU students with the best possible preparation for their professional careers, McCellan says that the model will help address a problem on campus: the scattered way that leadership skills are taught.  “You all know how it is.  A good leader at Frostburg feels like they’re getting pulled 600 different ways.”  He encouraged the ambitious student leaders in attendance to focus their efforts on “one organization where you can make a huge difference, versus multiple organizations where you can make a moderate difference.”  He also mentioned how the many management classes offered at Frostburg all teach a different approach, which is incredibly confusing for students: “The need to unify those leadership studies is an overarching theme.”  

For the second half of the meeting--true to this very theme--students were in charge.  Breaking into small groups, they were asked to name which part of the model they considered most important, plus to suggest any parts that might be missing.  Brittany Burton, a Psychology major from Cumberland, Md., said “developing a sense of purpose” was the most vital competency on the model.  “You have to have a strong sense of purpose yourself before you try to lead others,” she reasoned, drawing on her experience working as a student coordinator for the Late At Lane program.

Meanwhile, John “Jake” Watson, a junior from Thurmont, Md., put value in group dynamics, especially “communicating intentionally.”  “Communication is vital,” he said.  “There are no more one-man jobs anymore.  A good example is the new communications building.  There’s not one welder working on the building at once: there are 20.  Any job you do requires good communication.”  As a Business Administration and Management major seeking a leadership minor, Watson will doubtlessly encounter this model again in his future classes.

As discussion faded, Dr. McCellan brought the meeting to a close and voiced that he hoped the suggestions generated would provide a student perspective in FSU’s leadership competency model.  The next biggest challenges, once the model is finalized, will be getting more student leaders involved, then reflecting on the usefulness and effectiveness of the model.  If the enthusiasm the student participants exhibited for collaboration, discussion, and eventual action is any indication, this model, as well as the future of leadership education at FSU, is in capable hands.



Model Leaders:  The latest iteration of FSU's leadership competency model, the set of exemplary characteristics that will drive future leadership education.