Kansas State University is proud to announce its selection as an Institute Partner for the 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Beginning in mid-June, K-State will host 25 of Africa’s bright, emerging Civic Engagement leaders for a six-week Leadership Institute, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Continue reading “Kansas State University to host 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders”
Category: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement
Staley School seeking students for LEAD 212 Class Leaders
The Staley School of Leadership Studies is seeking applicants to serve as LEAD 212 Class Leaders during the fall 2022 semester. LEAD 212 Class Leaders are students who help teach LEAD 212: Introduction to Leadership Concepts.
LEAD 212 Class Leaders are asked to facilitate small group discussions, lead active-learning exercises, create a learning community with their students, and perform administrative functions (such as grading, attendance, etc). These students serve as a bridge between students and instructors – they are motivated to help students learn the academic discipline of leadership and connect to the K-State campus community. LEAD 212 Class Leaders will work six to seven hours per week at $9 per hour during the fall semester.
Applications are due by midnight Sunday, Feb. 13. Applicant qualifications, a preview of application questions, and more are available in this application packet. Applications must be submitted electronically through this Qualtrics survey.
Applicants will be asked to RSVP to attend one interview date:
- 2:30-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22
- 3:45-4:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22
- 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22
- 2:30-3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23
- 3:45-4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23
More information about the LEAD 212 Class Leaders program can be found here.
For questions please contact Tamara Bauer at tamara@ksu.edu. We look forward to receiving your application.
Alternative Breaks: Paving a path forward
Experience Matters: Student stories of leadership development and community change, is a blog series that highlights student learning through the experiential service and leadership programs at Kansas State University’s Staley School of Leadership Studies. Program alumni will share stories of leadership development, building civic capacity, and leading change.
In our first blog of the series, Gracyn Higley, a 2021 K-State graduate, describes her experience with Alternative Breaks. Through her participation in service learning programs she gained awareness of social issues and built her capacity to exercise leadership around the complex challenges facing communities.
April of my senior year in high school I had no idea where I was going to college. I had one month to make a decision so at least I had something for my “plans” to be announced as I crossed the stage at graduation. After talking with and old friend at K-State, I decided to spend the next four years growing in my leadership capacity, building new friendships, and developing a passion for service.
I faced a lot of trials and transition during my first year at K-State, but kept pushing myself to gain new experiences. This push was largely due to taking the LEAD 212: Introduction to leadership concepts. The class was exactly the nudge I needed to confidently try new things, including International Service Teams (IST), a program of the Staley School of Leadership Studies. I spent the summer with The Sandele Foundation in The Gambia. Upon my return to the U.S., I found that my views about many things had changed. A huge question I reflected on was, why serve and learn abroad rather than where you’re from? This question stuck with me and made me realize the importance of looking at service locally, in addition to globally. Continue reading “Alternative Breaks: Paving a path forward “
Food Security Scholars updates
Food Security Scholars is a collaborative leadership development program for students passionate about making progress toward a more food secure world. Housed in the Staley School of Leadership Studies, scholars experience a two-phase program exposing them to a variety of experiences surrounding food security, food waste and recovery, and global food systems.
Each academic year, students apply and interview to become a member of the next cohort. As scholars in the new cohort, they engage in a two-phase program during the fall and spring semesters, respectively. Phase I consists of an eight-week curriculum where students meet once per week to discuss a topic in a roundtable-style dialogue. Various activities are interspersed, such as a tour of Cats’ Cupboard, or a stakeholder roundtable discussion. Continue reading “Food Security Scholars updates”
For the common good: A lesson in public health leadership from Eyam
Guest authors Kate Lewis (K-State student, Global Food Systems Leadership, pre-veterinary medicine and Animal Sciences and Industry), Peter Maier (K-State student, Master of Public Health program), and Justin Kastner (K-State faculty member, Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology) wrote this article to highlight leadership principles in operation in a past infectious disease event—one that occurred over three and one-half centuries ago.
For readers of The Loop, it is axiomatic to say that leadership involves focusing on others and their needs, even if it requires subordinating or abandoning one’s self-interest. Whether aiming for a societal goal or an individual team’s success, good leadership involves “put[ting] others’ interest before your own.”[1] Leadership is not meant to be a self-promoting enterprise, but one that brings with it real, anticipated, expected costs borne by servant leaders—costs often measurable in concrete financial, political, relational, and personal terms. Indeed, servant leadership may include forgoing a lucrative career for the sake of working in the so-called “third sector” of the non-profit world; it may mean embracing and advocating for a politically unpopular principle or practice; as many seasoned leaders can attest and as admirable biographies narrate, service to others may feature profound personal loss—losing the esteem of friends, or even life itself.
These costs are both real (painful) and likely (probable), so leadership is, for sure, a risky enterprise. Continue reading “For the common good: A lesson in public health leadership from Eyam”
Two-week faculty-led service experience to Guatemala
International Service Teams (IST) is a program housed in the Staley School of Leadership Studies that sends students abroad to engage in ethical service-learning work. During the summer, student-led teams work with our partners in community efforts abroad. Students gain leadership experience, become more culturally sensitive, and develop a critical understanding of global inequality.
This year we are piloting a two-week-long IST trip to Guatemala that is faculty-led from July 28 to Aug. 13. Applications are due by Feb. 7.
We are partnering with Tejiendo Futuros, a nonprofit organization that works to empower every member of the families in the Panajachel community. They aim to provide holistic education, increased food security, access to affordable medical services, support for social entrepreneurship and environmental conservation. Students will work with the organization’s school and eco-farm.
All students, including those graduating in May 2022, are eligible for this trip. All students will be required to have basic conversational Spanish. Additionally, there will be a three-credit hour leadership course the final eight weeks of the semester to prepare students for the summer experience.
IST is also hosting four other sites for 8-10 week experiences in the Dominican Republic, Kenya, South Africa, and The Gambia.
You may access the application for all sites through the International Service Team webpage. Applications are due Feb. 7. If you have any questions or would like more information about this opportunity, feel free to email intlteam@ksu.edu.
Shifting the power dynamics of neighborhood revitalization through Front Porch Conversations
In this series, authors will explore how individuals and communities imagine new ways to lead change, new mindsets to approach complex issues, and new strategies to align leadership theory and practice. We will share examples of how local leaders address global issues, highlighting leadership perspectives and strategic change actions.
In this blog, Josh Brewer illustrates the challenges associated with neighborhood revitalizations through an adaptive, critical lens. He describes how the practice of “Front Porch Conversation,” disrupted dominant expert-driven practices and centered resident experience in improving the quality of life of neighborhoods.
On an unusually hot summer evening in Kansas, two homeowners sat in their driveway anxiously waiting near a cooler of iced drinks. Over the prior two weeks, they had walked up and down their neighborhood, knocking on doors, posting flyers, and sticking yard signs in front lawns. “Front Porch Conversation,” the signs read, promoting the first step, a conversation, in a grassroots neighborhood revitalization process for the older Manhattan neighborhood that residents affectionately call “So Po.” Some say the term was derogatory decades ago, “so poor on the Southside,” but the new residents are reclaiming it as South of Poyntz, a primary corridor in town. Continue reading “Shifting the power dynamics of neighborhood revitalization through Front Porch Conversations “
Students utilize service and learning to benefit community
How do you want to define your college experience? For many students at Kansas State University, it’s a question without an answer. Of course, it’s learning, but it’s also something beyond the classroom. The answer includes something with meaning beyond oneself—something that gives to others and has tangible impact. For many students, community service is the mechanism to realize that desire. Continue reading “Students utilize service and learning to benefit community”