Contents

Notes from the Collaborative

A Note from the Collaborative Director

Defining Collaboration: Collaborative Undergraduate Research Across the Disciplines

Collaborative Opportunities

Research and Academic Travel Funding Opportunities

Academic Travel Award Recipients

Celebrating Student and Faculty/Staff Collaborations

Student Profiles

Important Dates

Mar. 25, 2011 Collaborative Summer-Fall Grant applications due

Mar. 31 - Apr. 2, 2011 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)

Apr. 18, 2011 Collaborative Continuation Grant applications due

May 2, 2011 Student Academic Travel Grant and Attendee Grant applications due

Student Profile: Anna Czarnik-Neimeyer 

The Leadership Educators Institute (LEI) is an innovative forum geared specifically towards new to mid-level student affairs professionals and leadership educators. The Institute is coordinated by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, the American College Personnel Association, and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs, and drew over 300 attendees to the University of South Florida December 5-7, 2010. I co-presented at LEI with my supervisor Nancy Mathias in a session titled "Multi-level Leadership Development Using Experiential Projects and the LID Model." In this session, we shared a detailed program description as well as quantitative and qualitative learning outcomes assessment data for the 2010 SNC Emerging Leaders Program, which I coordinate through my position as Leadership Development Coordinator in the Office of Leadership Development, Service and Engagement (LSE) at SNC. Through our session we also facilitated conversation on implementing leadership theory into multi-level leadership programs in higher education.  

Of the 37 breakout-sessions at the conference, I was one of two undergraduate students to present, where other presenters included professors, vice chancellors, deans, directors, and coordinators in student affairs positions at colleges and universities around the country. Among such great company, it was an honor and privilege to share my work and passion with an interested audience. Scheduled with four other workshops in the challenging spot after the closing keynote in the final workshop rotation, we were very pleased with a reception of over 30 student affairs and leadership administrators. Most attendees had no co-curricular leadership program at their own institutions and were looking to create programs and learn from our model, which has been evolving over the last 10 years. The conversational tone of the workshop created a forum for productive discussion following the exhibition of our data.

As a Communication major, my course material is exemplified and developed every day through the Emerging Leaders Program, to the point that I have literally taken lessons from some of my courses and taught them to program participants. Through this program I have exercised theory from communication courses such as Organizational Communication, Small Group Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Business and Professional Speaking. True to the liberal arts tradition of St. Norbert College, I have been able to supplement programming and have made decisions informed by theory from my courses in other disciplines, such as Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies. Presenting the program at the Leadership Educators Institute allowed me to utilize my academic background and interests to further examine the theory and learning outcomes of Emerging Leaders and receive constructive ideas and feedback to sharpen my development and understanding of leadership theory and communication theory. In addition, feedback and discussion from this presentation (as well as the data we intentionally gathered for the purpose of our session) is being used to ensure the continuation, development, and success of the Emerging Leaders Program after I graduate. As my post-graduate plans involve an eventual career in student affairs, I will attend graduate school in this area. An astute, critical analysis and presentation of the Emerging Leaders Program has bolstered my academic interest and provided me with a background for material I will soon cover in graduate courses. In addition, the other sessions I attended at the LEI conference provided valuable knowledge and networking opportunities in my pursuit of employment and post-graduate education in programs that many of the other attendees have recently completed. I am thankful for this enjoyable and unique opportunity, which would have been impossible without the support of the SNC Collaborative. Thank you.

NOTES:

-An electronic forum of resources from the LEI conference presentations (including ours) can be found at http://www.myacpa.org/pd/lei/resources.cfm

-The Emerging Leaders Program at St. Norbert College is a competitive first year student program based on the Leadership Identity Development Model and Social Change Model of Leadership Development. Emerging Leaders gives new students the tools to address campus and community needs using effective leadership through four areas: off-campus retreat, large group workshops, group projects led by student Project Mentors, and completion of a leadership portfolio. The program functions on a relational, coaching model of leadership and mentoring. Emerging Leaders exemplifies the concept of communio through open dialogue, focus on social justice, collaboration, intentional communication, reflection, service, and responding to the needs of the community. It embodies the Norbertine motto of docere verbo et exemplo—to teach by word and example—through its theoretical basis and experiential education focus.