Lily Grant Information Summary:
During the first weekend of the new school year the Office of Student Development (OSD), using funds from our planning grant, piloted a new retreat for student government and student club leaders, “Building Community 2002”. This retreat is the initial step in implementing a plan being developed by OSD for a Mount Leadership Institute. The Goals of the Mount Leadership Institute are: (1) to develop an awareness of accountability to community in student leaders; (2) to encourage student leaders to set their goals and expectations for each academic year; (3) to foster higher-level thinking about the relationship between leadership and vocation; and (4) to generate a cadre of leaders’ leaders that can instill leadership skills in other students. The rationale for developing the Mount Leadership Institute is that we want to equip students with the skills and attitudes needed to lead in order that they can gain the confidence to answer the call to leadership. “Building Community 2002” retreat had sessions and activities designed to contribute to these goals as well as a session devoted to discussion of vocation. We propose to use implementation grant funds to make this an annual retreat and to support the development of the Mount Leadership Institute (MLI). As its guide for planning the MLI, OSD is using the hallmarks of exemplary leadership development programs identified by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in its Leadership in the Making: Impact and Insights from Leadership Development Programs in US Colleges and Universities (2000).

The MLI can be judged a success if student leaders exhibit the following outcomes: they have a greater appreciation for ethical practices in leadership; they have explored and developed their own leadership styles and enhanced their motivation for leading effectively; they have improved their ability to work with a team, to develop creative solutions to community-wide problems, and to assess their own leadership skills.

To evaluate whether the MLI is developing these outcomes, student participants will complete a leadership assessment instrument before the annual MLI Building Community retreat and then again near the end of the academic year to see how they have developed as leaders. The Campus Life staff member responsible for analyzing the results will forward them to the director of the grant program for appropriate dissemination. Student participants, student development professionals, and faculty advisors to the MLI will also evaluate the processes and activities sponsored by the MLI on an annual basis. The results of these evaluations will also be submitted to the director of the grant program. (p.18)