Certificate in Collaborative Leadership

Collaborative leadership is the process through which leaders, guided by self-knowledge and interpersonal awareness, facilitate and empower the potential of diverse individuals and groups through enhanced understanding of factors such as individual motivation, interpersonal skills, and group dynamics.

The undergraduate Certificate in Collaborative Leadership (CCL) is open to students campus-wide and consists of 3-credit bearing courses.

“This series of three classes taught me things that no other classes at Purdue had offered. Now having graduated, I find that there are skills from these classes that I use on a daily basis. For example, reading body language, conflict management techniques, and how to have challenging conversations with others are what I use most frequently in my career. However, for my personal life, I also learned what it takes to not only be an effective mentor but also how to find an effective mentor for myself. I honestly believe that these courses will be of future benefit to students in any major.” – Darrian Petruzzi

To become one tomorrow’s leaders, students need to be trained in the interpersonal aspects of leadership. The Certificate in Collaborative Leadership uses highly experiential training to take students beyond management skills to:

• team-building,
• empowerment of others,
• identifying and capitalizing on human resources to reach goals.

Students will learn leadership-related content, interpersonal skills, global awareness, diversity awareness, and mentoring while experientially interacting with peers from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, and first year college students or high school students who need role models—a powerful synergy!

Course Sequence and Descriptions:

Course 1: EDPS 31500 Collaborative Leadership: Interpersonal Skills:
This experiential, case-based course focuses on integrated study of theories of human motivation and systems, working through how to have difficult conversations with colleagues, supervisors, and employees. Key feature of the course is ongoing recorded role-played scenarios, providing critiqued practice that focuses on how to best communicate with others in a variety of situations, settings, and roles.
Approved to meet Oral Communication (OC) foundational learning outcome

Course 2: EDPS 31600 Collaborative Leadership: Cross-Cultural Settings:
In this course, students explore the cultural nuances of leadership in the United States as well as around the world. This course will include impact of globalism as a context for leadership, conflict resolution in a global environment, and other important factors that impact culturally diverse or global teams. Method of course delivery will include utilization of experiential activities and innovative technology to learn about and engage with culturally diverse individuals.
Approved to meet Human Cultures: Behavioral Social Sciences (BBS) foundational learning outcome

Course 3: EDPS 31700 Collaborative Leadership: Mentoring:
In this service-learning course, students learn theories of mentoring, including both the one-on-one, “grooming” approach and the networking approach to mentoring. Students have the opportunity to critically evaluate their personal experiences with formal and informal mentors, identify areas where they wish to receive mentoring, and serve as part of a network mentoring team to first-year students at Purdue University or high school students in the Lafayette area.

Pre-requisites and Requirements for Admission to CL Courses

This certificate is open to all students at Purdue. Students do not have to be formally enrolled in the certificate program in order to take courses, but completion of all three courses is required in order to receive the Certificate in Collaborative Leadership. EDPS 31500 Collaborative Leadership: Interpersonal Skills is a prerequisite for both EDPS 31600 Collaborative Leadership: Cross-Cultural Settings and EDPS 31700 Collaborative Leadership: Mentoring. EDPS 31600 is also a prerequisite for EDPS 31700.

Students pursuing the certificate should notify their academic advisors so that the Certificate in Collaborative Leadership can be added to their MyPurduePlan. Upon completion of all three courses, the Certificate in Collaborative Leadership will be reflected on students’ transcripts and the certificate will be mailed to them.

Please contact Dr. Emily Boswell (boswelle@purdue.edu), Coordinator of the Certificate in Collaborative Leadership, regarding any questions.