As a student in the Comprehensive Leadership Program (CLP), you will complete a 21-credit Minor in Leadership Studies, as well as the requirements for a Bachelor's degree in any academic field. Our program is designed flexibly so you can graduate in four years with any major.
Overview
Approximately 40 students will be admitted into CLP within a given academic year, with each group of students beginning Leadership Studies courses in the Spring semester of their first year.
Throughout the course of your leadership journey, you will:
- Complete five Leadership Studies (LDRS) courses (15 credits)
- Complete two courses from the interdisciplinary leadership electives, one of which must be from the LDRS subject (6 credits)*
- Participate in a variety of co-curricular activities including seminars, retreats and speakers
Freshman Year
Spring Semester: LDRS 200 Foundations of Leadership, 3 credits
This course is designed to serve as an introduction to the dynamic and growing field of study in leadership. Through discussion, lecture, research, readings, and activities, students will review basic myths and principles of leadership; including leadership theory, the relational leadership model, the context of leadership in groups, and ethics and leadership. These various components of the course are intended to challenge students to think critically and imaginatively about the foundations of leadership. Students will be responsible for crafting their own model of leadership that reflects the material covered in the course.
Sophomore Year
Fall Semester: LDRS 315 Theories of Leadership & Organizations, 3 credits
This course will explore leadership theory as students develop a systematic, holistic, philosophcal, theoretical framework for leadership. Emphasis will be place on the nature and role of leadership in understanding the self and interpersonal interactions. The overall purpose of this course, is to challenge each student to carefully analyze how they view leadership, explore who they are as leaders, and assist in helping students use their individual strengths to improve as leaders in a variety of contexts. (c) conflict
Spring Semester: LDRS 325 The Practice of Leadership, 3 credits
This course is designed to engage you to be in the application of models, and paradigms to real-world scenarios related to conflict, team dynamics, and emotional intelligence. While traditional teaching methods such as a lectures and readings will be used, other methods include role-playing activities, case studies, and assessments will supplement the course. You will be required to draw from your knowledge of leadership theory covered in previous CLP courses.
Junior Year
Fall Semester: LDRS 375 Leading Across Cultures, 3 credits
Through this course, students will gain knowledge of diverse cultures, cross-cultural communication, the dynamics of privilege and oppression, and the uses of power between groups. To develop cultural competency, leaders need to know: themselves, others, the relevant issues, and have an appreciation and curiosity for working with others. Students will connect global leadership concepts to practice and engage in a number of activities, discussions, and self-assessment instruments to increase their self-awareness of leadership styles, abilities, strengths, and limitations.
Spring Semester: Leadership Elective, 3 credits (select from classes listed below or Internship)
Senior Year
Fall Semester: LDRS 450 Contemporary Issues in Leadership, 3 credits
Through exploring contemporary issues in leadership, this course is designed to be a capstone experience of integrating leadership knowledge and skills. This course will provide students with an understanding of the principles of Servant Leadership (Greenleaf, 1970, 1998, 2001) and an exploration of adaptive leadership theory and practice (Heifetz, 1994, 2001, 2009). These two leadership theories in tandem provide a uniquely Jesuit approach to leadership, with servant leadership cultivating the heart, while adaptive leadership provides an avenue for the head and hands. A focal point of the course is on helping students begin to develop a vision of their vocation as leaders by participating in real-time, casein-point examples of adaptive leadership. As a capstone to the Minor in Leadership Studies, students will practice their leadership skills and knowledge in a legacy project and construct a learning portfolio from their coursework.
Spring Semester: Leadership Elective, 3 credits (select from classes listed below or Internship)
Leadership Elective Courses
Electives will be offered by faculty based on student learning objectives and faculty expertise. Electives offered through the program include:
- BENT 490 Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- COMM 401 Communication and Leadership
- COMM 430 Intersectional Communication
- COMM 440 Rhetoric of Social Change
- ECON 311 Global Economic Crisis
- ENSC 405 Engineering Project Management
- INST 244 International Organizations
- INST 350 International Ethics
- INST 430 Intersectional Communication
- INST 440 Rhetoric of Social Change
- LDRS 355 Intercultural Experience on Leadership
- LDRS 390 Outdoor Leadership
- LDRS 392 Women in Leadership
- LDRS 394 Leadership and Storytelling
- LDRS 395 Service and Leadership
- LDRS 397 Leadership and Film
- LDRS 497 Leadership Internship
- MGMT 350 Principles of Management
- MGMT 355 International Management
- PHIL 455 Health Care Ethics
- PRLS 450 Organizational Issues for PR
- PSYC 380 Industrial-Organizational Psychology
- RELI 343 Christian Leadership
- SOCI 330 Society and the Individual
- UNIV 210 Intercultural Competence Development
- WGST 202 Gender, Difference and Power
- WGST 303 Isms: Racism, Classism, Sexism
Co-Curricular Activities
In addition to the academic component (courses listed above), you are required to take part in a number of co-curricular activities, designed to complement in-class experiences. These include:
Leadership Fishbowl
An event held each semester in which a featured leadership speaker is sponsored by the Comprehensive Leadership Program. This leadership conversation has included leaders from various educational and business institutions in the Inland Northwest including Jess Walter (New York Times Best-Selling author), Tyler Lafferty (Entrepreneur and Principal of Seven2 and 14Four), Harold Gilkey (CEO of Sterling Savings Bank), Betsy Cowles (Chair of the Board of Cowles Publishing Co), amongst many others.
Annual Leadership Seminar/Workshop (Fall)
Each fall semester, the Comprehensive Leadership Program hosts a half-day seminar focusing on a specific aspect of leadership development. Previous topics have included leadership and diversity, improv and leadership, and team building skills.
Annual Overnight Leadership Retreat (Spring)
During the spring semester, the CLP provides an overnight retreat with the goal of building community and developing additional leadership competencies and skills. In recent years the topics have included: Unpacking Civic Identity, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership through the eyes of Native American culture, and Leading through Conflict.
CLP Spring Break Service Trip
During Gonzaga's Spring Break, the Comprehensive Leadership Program brings 12-15 students to Los Angeles for a week-long service experience. This optional experience for CLP students offers an opportunity to serve in various communities while reflecting on Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership principles.
Coughlin Hall Leadership Living/Learning Community
Coughlin Hall Leadership floor is a themed residence at Gonzaga University for freshman and sophomore students interested in living and studying leadership and service. In partnership with Housing and Residence Life office, the Comprehensive Leadership Program offers students various educational programming opportunities within the context of a leadership community.
Zambia Servant-Leadership Summer Course
In the spirit of developing leaders for the common good, the Comprehensive Leadership Program sponsors a summer academic course in the southern African country of Zambia. This optional experience for CLP students provides an international service-learning experience for one month in a small African town. The course entitled, Intercultural Servant Leadership, offers a unique perspective on Greenleaf's servant-leadership principles and concepts while providing rigorous academic and experiential education in this international setting.
Ignatian Leaders Scholarship Competition
Each spring, Gonzaga University hosts a scholarship competition for incoming students committed to academics, community service, character, and leadership. The students of the Comprehensive Leadership Program assist in the facilitation of the leadership competition and the selection process. Many of these Ignatian Leaders Scholars (ILS) participate in the Comprehensive Leadership Program as enrolled students.
Leadership Development Consultation
The CLP students have facilitated leadership training and development for various organizations, agencies, and businesses. This has included half-day retreats or leadership talks for the ARC of Spokane, Lewis and Clark High School, Creston School, Central Valley High School, Youth Leadership Spokane and Inchelium School District.
*Waivers and substitutions for department requirements may be granted to meet special academic needs. In addition, the University waives the fees for credits in excess of the usual eighteen-credit per semester limit, if you qualify, up to 21 hours per semester. You are responsible for extra fees related to any non-CLP credits.
