Alumnae reflect on value of 'Emerging Leaders' course.

Women's numbers are increasing on campus but still small in Congress and the top offices of Fortune 500 companies. Campus initiatives to increase women's leadership include student leadership courses. Do they work? What difference do they make for women's lives?

Dr. Kelli K. Smith, assistant director of career services at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, interviewed selected UNL alumnae about the long-term impact of its Emerging Leaders course. Her qualitative study was her dissertation research for a PhD in Leadership Studies at UNL. "I pursued this degree out of a passion for my field," she said, encouraging women to follow their passions.

Finding practical ways to improve women's leadership has long interested her. She majored in psychology with a minor in Women's Studies. Her master's degree capstone paper in Student Affairs focused on student leadership courses.

Students overall get involved locally but have grown cynical about the national scene, she noted at the University of Nebraska's Women in Educational Leadership conference in Lincoln in October. Leadership courses with lasting impact may help to stem that trend.

Nebraska's elective undergraduate Emerging Leaders course is taught through Student Involvement, under Student Affairs, and is open to both women and men. It's cross-listed for three hours of academic credit in both educational psychology and agricultural leadership education, and it fills some course requirements in those programs, adding legitimacy and rigor.

While including theory, it's skills-based; students interview a community leader and do a community-building service project. The alumnae she interviewed valued the practical aspect of the course. They usually took it as freshmen or sophomores, some returning as undergraduate TAs for the course.

Rather than taking a random cross-section, Smith sought information-rich interviews by asking the course instructors to nominate alumnae. Of the eight named, five agreed to participate. She gathered written information and interviewed each of them three times over a few months.