Graduate Student Leadership

UMKC School of Graduate Studies is part of a Graduate Student Leadership Development Program

The University of Missouri System has had leadership development opportunities for faculty and staff.  The Graduate Deans of the system four campuses (University of Missouri-St Louis, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri S&T, and University of Missouri-Kansas City) met at the UMKC campus in early April and developed a proposal to fund such a program for select graduate students.  The University of Missouri system agreed to fund the “Graduate Student Leadership Development Program” for three years.

The development of this program had been under discussion for several years.  With this program, up to five graduate students from each campus will be nominated and then selected for participation in this program.  Participants from the four campuses will meet four times during the academic year for special training events and discussions.  Each campus will be responsible for engaging students beyond the four system-wide meetings.

One focus of the program is for students to assess their own leadership strengths and abilities.  A second focus will be on “transferable skills.” These are abilities that graduate students (a) may acquire during their graduate studies (but may not be aware of), or (b) add on to specialized research to enhance success in careers inside and outside the academy. Transferable skills enable graduate students to pursue nimble, creative careers of leadership and innovation, at a time of rapidly-shifting job opportunities in a complex global economy.  This affords employers to take advantage of the talent pool that has traditionally sought careers only in academia, thereby increasing economic competitiveness.  Graduate programs at many U.S. institutions have begun to emphasize the infusion of these skills into the training of graduate students.  An outcome of the development of transferrable skills is to give graduates the training often needed to find employment in a variety of work environments.

Students will be expected to become active members of graduate student organizations or serve in leadership roles in their units or departments.  Students who are at the beginning of an academic program will be given priority so that they may give back to each campus by assuming leadership positions.  Stay tuned for an announcement from the School of Graduate Studies on the nomination and application deadlines in the fall semester.

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