The Leadership and Social Change Minor at Virginia Tech The Leadership and Social Change Minor (ILRM) offers students a theoretical foundation combined with the practical knowledge and skills necessary to lead in a complex global work environment. ILRM will be of interest to students planning to pursue a career in non-profit organizations, including governmental and non-governmental agencies with an agenda for social justice. The Leadership and Social Change minor embraces a commitment to diversity and an agenda for social change that crosses multiple program areas.
The minor is based on the Social Change Model, which approaches leadership as a collaborative, values-based and purposeful process that created positive social change. It describes the following 7 values of leadership that occur on 3 dimensions with the goal of positive change:
Leadership is collaborative
Leadership is socially responsible and it impacts change on behalf of others
Leadership is not a position, but a process
Leadership is inclusive and accessible to all people
Leadership is values-based
Community involvement and service is a powerful vehicle for leadership
The minor requires a total of 19 credit hours. More information about this program can be found at : http://www.alce.vt.edu/student-info/undergraduate/leadership-social-change/index.html
I have completed 18 hours of classes eligible for this minor. I completed the majority of this major through the Fall 2015 Linking Lives: Creating Sustainable Social Change Study Abroad Program. These classes included:
PSYC 2984: Psychology of Social Interventions (3 credits) What can psychology and related fields teach us about interventions designed to create opportunity for people who, historically, have been disadvantaged? This course will introduce students to major theories, empirical evidence, challenges, and methods relevant to this question. Our goal will be to connect academic concepts with real-life challenges related to creating successful social interventions. We will ground the course in a semester-long grant proposal that you will initiate earlier in the semester. Both the conceptual model for the intervention and concrete plans for implementation will be developed.
This is my final Grant Proposal
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MKTG 4044: Field Practicum (9 credits) You will spend four weeks in Africa working in groups of 10-12 on a service learning project for a non-profit organization. Your team will be responsible for implementing your project on the ground. This experience will require you to work with each other, your VT project supervisor, your non-profit partner, and community beneficiaries. Your specific project will depend on the needs of your non-profit partner organization. Most students will work on a business consulting project and/or teach.
This is my final curriculum I created for my students in Nyamyumba and Butare
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MKTG 4644: Marketing, Society and the Public Interest This course explores the impact of marketing on society from a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective. In particular, it examines corporate social responsibility, ethics, and social marketing. Throughout the course, marketing techniques and practices will be examined and applied to social issues and behavioral change. More specifically, you will:
Debate the roles and responsibilities of marketing in society
Identify and analyze relevant issues in responsible marketing
Apply marketing techniques to societal issues and behavior
This is my final paper for this class
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Upon returning back to Tech, I completed one more class. LDRS 1015: Exploring Citizen Leadership (3 credits) This online leadership course introduced language, theories, values, and competencies related to leadership and the field of leadership studies. Through an examination of historical and contemporary leaders, as well as leadership models, philosophies, and theories, you will be engages in an experience that advances your knowledge and practice of leadership, followership, and active citizenship.
The following text is from an online class discussion we had about leadership and what it means to me:
What is your definition of leadership and why? I was abroad last semester and saw the importance of being a good leader across all cultures and the abilities of leaders to change lives for the better. A leader is someone who acts in the best interest of their group, regardless of how hard or unpopular it might be. They also know when its time to let someone else lead or when they are wrong.