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Students enrolled in a Corps of Cadets program at Texas A&M University [N = 336] were surveyed to examine their leadership mindsets and whether their participation in a formal academic leadership program simultaneously influenced their hierarchical and systemic-thinking preferences. No significant differences were found between students involved in the Corpsof Cadets program only and those enrolled in a formal academic leadership program. Significant differences did exist for gender and classification of students; women scored higher in systemic- thinking and juniors and seniors not enrolled in a formal academic leadership program scored lower in hierarchical-thinking than freshman and sophomore not enrolled in a formal academic leadership program. Students within the formal academic leadership programs have lower hierarchical scores and higher systemic scores than those who are not in a formal academic leadership program.

The Undergraduate Leadership Teaching Assistant (ULTA) experience offers students a high-impact opportunity to develop, practice, and evaluate their leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine outcomes of the ULTA experience as a high-impact practice for students studying leadership. Weekly journal entries of eight ULTAs were analyzed to assess their perspectives on the experience. Findings revealed the ULTAs developed cognitive skills through the generation of mostly divergent discussion questions on the knowledge and comprehension level of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain (Bloom et al, 1956). ULTAs applied their learning from the experience to both personal and professional roles and intend to model behaviors in seven skill areas: (a) communication; (b) active listening; (c) mentoring; (d) responsibility; (e) followership; (f) professionalism; and (g) collaboration.

First-year college students in a leadership-themed living-learning community (N= 60) at Texas A&M University were surveyed to examine if participation in the learning community influenced their leadership mindset using hierarchical and systemic thinking preferences. Utilizing a pre-test and post-test methodology, significant differences for hierarchical thinking were not found; however, significant differences for systemic thinking were found. At the end of the program year, students had larger systemic scores than when they started the program, but their hierarchical thinking scores remain fairly steady. Findings indicated that participation in a leadership-themed living-learning community influenced students’ leadership mindsets.

To meet the demands for effective leadership, leadership educators should integrate high-impact practices for students to develop, practice, and evaluate their leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities. The purpose of this application brief is to describe how undergraduate leadership teaching assistant (ULTA) experiences can be a high- impact practice for undergraduates studying leadership. The ULTA experience at Texas A&M University in the Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications (ALEC) department was examined using the six characteristics purported by Kuh (2008) to describe effective high- impact practices: considerable time and effort to purposeful tasks, interaction with faculty and peers on substantive matters, increased likelihood of experiencing diversity, frequent feedback on performance, application of learning to different settings, and better understanding of self in relation to others. The ULTA experience can be a high-impact practice that provides leadership students with the opportunities to apply their leadership learning to their teaching roles and reflect on their experience to gain new leadership perspectives. Recommendations for implementing this practice include: purposeful interactions with ULTAs, feedback and assessment of experience, training, and a rigorous recruitment process.

Although leadership education typically is not explicitly incorporated into student affairs preparatory programs, student affairs practitioners are expected to facilitate the leadership development of their students. Thus, through two simultaneous Delphi panels, Group A: Student Affairs Practitioners (n=17) and Group B: Student Affairs Preparatory Program Faculty (n=20), this study explored the places or experiences where student affairs practitioners should learn and practice the professional competencies needed to be a student affairs leadership educator. Both expert panels agreed the graduate assistantship was the most important place to learn and practice how to be a leadership educator. Yet these findings demonstrate a gap between research and practice within student affairs preparatory programs. Four recommendations are provided to strengthen the professional preparation of student affairs practitioners as leadership educators.

Students (N = 313) in undergraduate leadership degree programs at Texas A&M University were surveyed to determine their leadership mindset using hierarchical and systemic thinking preferences. Significant differences in thinking were found between gender and academic classification. Male leadership students scored greater in hierarchical thinking than females. Seniors, leadership students typically in their last semester of studies, scored significantly lower in hierarchical thinking than juniors. Findings indicate formal leadership coursework influences students’ leadership mindsets.

This exploratory, qualitative, descriptive study examined undergraduate student perspectives of pedagogy used in an undergraduate leadership elective course to describe how students view the effectiveness and impact of pedagogies used in the course. Undergraduate students (n = 28) reflected on the effectiveness of the pedagogies and the learning environment created by the pedagogies used in the undergraduate leadership course elective. Student reflections at the end of the semester revealed student perspectives on the effectiveness of the pedagogies and were grouped into three themes: contribution to overall effectiveness, openness to different perspectives, and learning from peers. Two themes emerged for students’ perceptions of the learning environment including overcoming challenges with discussion and class logistics. This study lends support for discussion as a pedagogy used by leadership instructors which can be effective for learning leadership as perceived by undergraduate students.

Social media is becoming more prevalent in the higher education classroom. As part of an ongoing study, the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications at Texas A&M University surveyed leadership students about their perceptions of their level of comfort and frequency of use of social media tools and the advantages and disadvantages that these students perceived when social media was used in the leadership classroom. A total of 79 students were surveyed in two upper level leadership courses. Facebook was the social media tool students were most comfortable with and used most frequently. Advantages included social media helping increase quality and efficiency of communication between students and the instructor, social media as a technological norm, access to class information, ease of collaboration, and stronger social connections between classmates. Disadvantages revolved around issues of use of and access to social media.

This study examined the motivation and intent towards leadership and entrepreneurship of students enrolled in academic leadership programs. The Entrepreneurship Professional Leadership (ELP) Career Aspiration Survey was completed by undergraduate students (N = 143) enrolled in leadership courses at a large land-grant university. The students had supportive views of both motivation and intent to lead, with a more supportive view of their intent to lead, but had a more neutral stance on their motivation and intent for entrepreneurship. While some students in leadership programs have a desire towards entrepreneurship, it appears most are more interested in and intend to participate in leadership in other capacities after graduation. Contrary to previous research, gender differences with regard to intent toward entrepreneurship was not statistically significant.

Capstone courses in leadership provide students opportunities to synthesize prior knowledge about various aspects of leadership. This article describes the Leadership for Dummies project, which could be used as a capstone experience for leadership majors. Based on his experiences as a psychological researcher, Gardner (2008) identified five minds individuals should develop: the disciplined mind (being an expert in one area), the synthesizing mind (gathering information from multiple sources and combining the information in a meaningful way), the creating mind (building new boxes and thinking outside the old ones), the respectful mind (valuing the differences of others), and the ethical mind (doing what is right). The Leadership for Dummies assignment requires students to use their disciplined, synthesizing, and creating minds to develop new ways of thinking needed by tomorrow’s leaders. Anecdotal evidence suggests the assignment is helping students make meaning out of their undergraduate experience while taking ownership of their own learning.