Leadership

Through formal and informal roles, everyone can be a leader.

We leverage the strengths of our community to reach common goals and use interpersonal skills to coach and develop each other. Through a process of learning and applying skills, we can accomplish measurable, meaningful change.

Being a leader means:

  • Investing in an area of interest and/or concern
  • Understanding your values, passions, and talents
  • Developing skills to become effective at what you do
  • Having a willingness to take action and becoming engaged
Medallion Program flyer reading "It's your journey. Take the first step and navigate your own path at your own pace.

Underlying all of these aspects of leadership at ÂÒÂ×Ç¿¼é are our Meliora Values: equity, leadership, integrity, openness, respect, and accountability. These are the shared values that form the pillars of undergraduate student life, and they are infused throughout our leadership programs.

Leadership programs and activities include:

For a complete list of leadership program on campus, visit the Office of the Dean of Students.

Leadership Challenge

Work on your first impression: prepare yourself and your organization for new recruits. It’s a new school year and a time to recruit new members. To be successful you need to update your materials for the activities fair and general interest meeting. But you don’t want to forget about making sure you are ready. Remember that first impressions can have a big impact on your recruitment results. Here are 7 tips that you should work on in preparation for interacting with others.

  1. Start on time -  That means being early to set up and make sure you have everything ready so you can start right on time. You don’t want to be setting up last minute or prepping materials as people are there. You want your attention to be on them. Starting on time sets the expectation right away that you and your organization value them and their time.
  2. Present yourself appropriately - Take a moment to get yourself ready. Think ahead about the meeting, event, conversation you are going to have. What will other eboard members be wearing? You may want to coordinate if you have an organization shirt. Set the stage with looking the part.
  3. Have confidence - Confidence demonstrates the skills you have learned to be a student organization leader and the passion you have for the organization. People are drawn to those who know what they are doing.
  4. Make a human connection - Have an icebreaker that allows you and your eboard to meet people one on one. This will help you build real relationships with new members. Icebreakers can be a great thing to do at every meeting.
  5. Tell them why - Opening up by explaining why you do what you do and why you love the organization is sometimes more interesting than what you actually do. It allows the conversation to take many directions and helps you potentially form a connection with someone. And make it a two-way street: Don't forget to ask them their "why."
  6. Talk about your organization as an opportunity - Students who come participate in your organization are looking for opportunities. Opportunities to meet others with similar interest, opportunities to grow, opportunities to learn more, or opportunities to be you next year! Tell them how they can connect and grow.
  7. Smile - You will want to smile and you will want to know what makes your new members smile. Share something that makes you smile and then ask them a recent thing that make them happy. Your organization may have some serious items it is addressing it is good to show balance and smile!