2014 Student Leadership Academy participants

May 8, 2014 | May 8, 2014 | UAMS students from its five different colleges and graduate school had the opportunity to look at leadership differently through the Student Leadership Academy held on campus in April.

The theme of the academy was The Shift: Leading through Understanding and Service.

Twenty one students participated in the academy, which is in its second year. The goal was to help students become better leaders through understanding and service. The academy had lectures as well as group hands-on exercises, activities, personal reflection and service projects.

“I did not know what to expect from the Leadership Academy,” said Katlin Jones, a student in the UAMS College of Nursing. “The experience was truly a gift that will assist me throughout the rest of my scholastic endeavors and into my professional career. I was able to take away not just theoretical ideas but real tools to assist me in creating my own leadership method incorporating my strengths and allowing my weaknesses to be of benefit as well.”

The featured guest speaker was Melissa Gruver, assistant dean of civic engagement and leadership development at Purdue University. She has experience developing academic and co-curricular service-learning opportunities through her work with student service organizations, faculty and community partners, immersion experiences and leadership seminars. Gruver led the “Leading Through Service” component of the academy, which focused on an asset-based theory of service as opposed to a needs/deficits model. The participants then developed an academy service project based on these principles.

Gruver and the steering committee representing the UAMS Graduate School, and Colleges of Health Professions, Public Health and UAMS Northwest led participants through a series of team-building exercises and hands-on activities about what it means to embrace the skills of others within a team while expressing the leader’s own needs and ideas constructively. Topics included how to better understand yourself, communication skills and conflict management.

“I was impressed by the care taken by the administrators to ensure we came away from the experience with applicable tools,” Jones said. “As a whole, I would recommend this academy to any student interested in creating a holistic approach to human interaction throughout their lifetime and careers.”

The Student Leadership Academy is an interprofessional academy that students from all UAMS programs are encouraged to participate in. Students who planned to graduate May 2015 or later and had a minimum grade point average of 2.85 were eligible to apply. All students must have had a recommendation from a UAMS faculty or staff member.