Aspiring Freshmen, Sophomore Leaders Graduate to Finer Skills, Greater Engagement

Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Christakis presents leadership graduation certificate to sophomore Julia Alford, this semester's winner of the Omicron Delta Kappa Emerging Leader Award.

ALBANY, N.Y. (December 8, 2015) — Personal appeal may be a good ticket to securing leadership, elected or otherwise. But it takes several concrete skills to achieve leadership that’s successful.

Such expertise, imparted to young aspiring undergraduate leaders, is the goal of the Emerging Student Leaders Program, which held its semester graduation in the Campus Center last Friday afternoon. This semester, the program had 52 graduates. In total, 383 have graduated since Emerging Student Leaders’ inception in the spring of 2009.

An interactive program, Emerging Student Leaders’ purpose is to aid freshmen and sophomore students in becoming not only campus student leaders, but engaged citizens at UAlbany and beyond.

During the ten-week agenda, students are introduced to topics such as: leadership theory, intercultural excellence, leadership ethics, personal strengths, self-marketing, public speaking, and time management. Additionally, they learn how to better manage stress and resolve conflicts, skills believed to be essential to successfully running student groups, as well as helping to advance the UAlbany community as a whole.

Beyond the program’s schedule, participants gain the opportunity to be partnered with Emerging Leader alumni who have volunteered to serve as mentors.

The program also maintains a partnership with Omicron Delta Kappa’s (the National Leadership Honor Society) UAlbany Circle. OΔK’s Emerging Leader award is given each semester to a program graduate who best exemplifies the five pillars of leadership — scholarship, athletics, service, media, and the arts. This semester’s recipient was sophomore Julia Alford.

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