Linking the Campus to the Community
The University of Missouri-St Louis, a premiere land grant university, envisions an Executive Leadership Consotium of national prominence that makes a contribution to the university and the community by heightening awareness of the importance of leadership and increasing leadership qualities and skills.
The Executive Leadership Consortium is a student-centered program that aids future leaders to realize and strengthen their potentials so that students can be more effective in a rapidly changing organizational environment. The Consortium believes that investing in leadership effectiveness will foster personal growth of students, enhance their career opportunities, contribute to workforce development and strengthen economic vitality.
The Institute is comprised of Executive Fellows who serve as bridges between UMSL faculty, students and business leaders. Executive Fellows are also business leaders, retired or transitioning, who volunteer their time at the institute primarily to promote real world applications in a reality-learning environment for students, faculty and staff. By the same token, Executive Fellows and other business leaders will become more familiar with the university environment, including its academic programs. Executive Fellows will also interact and work with faculty, for example they will serve as guest lecturers, put on seminars and work with staff in Career Services and the CBA internship coordinator. This cross fertilization (linking the campus to the community), will also create a cadre of supportive leaders in the community who not only have their finger on the pulse of business and public needs, but will render further support to the university which will open more doors to the community.
Executive Fellows will be selected from various areas of interests and expertise. Each Executive Fellow will also work on a project compatible with his or her background to constructively engage students, faculty, Advisory Council members and other leaders around leadership topics and issues to build bridges between the campus and the community. Whenever possible, the institute seeks to cut across disciplines as well as public and private sectors to encourage viewing leadership as a widely held principle characteristic of virtually every segment of society and to view leadership in new and different ways.
While business faculty, students and business leaders represent the priority for the institute, students with other majors and other organizations such as civic, cultural, education and government will be part of institute activities, particularly when the needs of business intersect with the aforementioned.
The Consortium aims to foster and cultivate a sense of community. It will engage and work collaboratively with the Executive Leadership Consortium Advisory Council, faculty, administrators and staff within the university and with leaders in the business community. Additionally it will collaborate with other leadership programs on campus to further strengthen its mission, such as the Center for International Studies, Public Policy Research Center, Sue Shear Institute, Institute for Women's and Gender Studies, Bridge, Student Affairs, Multi-cultural Relations, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, CORO Leadership and the Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program.
