Coursework

LDRS 1015: Exploring Citizen Leadership

Exploring Citizen Leadership is the Introductory course for the Leadership and Social Change Minor. I took this course virtually during the Spring 2019 semester and enjoyed learning the theoretical bases of leadership as a framework and as a discipline. The course was designed to provide a basic understanding of leadership concepts while also allowing us to have an immersive leadership experience through a group project volunteering locally. My team worked with the Campus Kitchen to help package and deliver food to local organizations. The experience and class itself was very rewarding and eye-opening.

We focused on a broad range of learning objectives including historical approaches to leadership, diversity of leadership styles, exploring the dynamic between leaders and followers, understanding our own personal style of leadership, understanding skills to enhance leadership, and composing our first leadership philosophy draft. We gained these skills through a mix of readings, virtual lecture, and real-world experiences. Through this class, I learned how to be a more effective leader and how to focus on developing others’ skills to work alongside me to eventually become leaders themselves. I learned that I am a motivating leader that likes to focus on the benefit of the overall group. However, I also learned that sometimes I think that leadership is a trait and not something that can be learned easily. This course taught me how to recognize my leadership styles, take responsibility for my actions as a leader, and understand how different styles of leadership may be more helpful in certain situations. I have used, and will continue to use, this base level of leadership knowledge to inform my decisions as a leader in various settings. 

The Social Change Model indicates that leadership is a dynamic process internally, in groups, and in society as a whole. I believe the Exploring Citizen Leadership course gave me the personal knowledge I need to be able to be an effective leader. I gained an appreciation for different leadership styles, gained skills to help myself be a better leader and to work well with others, and was able to put these skills into practice with our community service project. In addition, we were able to use group leadership practices throughout our semester-long project to make an impact on the local community through Campus Kitchen. I enjoyed having weekly discussion posts about various leadership topics to discuss with my classmates. Here are two examples of discussion board posts that I shared with my peers.

LDRS 2014: Principles of Peer Leadership 

The Principles of Peer Leadership Class is probably one of the most impactful leadership classes that I have taken at Virginia Tech. The format I completed this class during the Fall 2019 semester was hybrid. This meant that we conducted independent coursework, readings, and discussion posts online each week and also had a weekly recitation on Tuesday afternoons. This balance between individual work and collaborating with peers created a unique learning experience that improved our leadership understanding and skills. 

The leadership concepts we focused on throughout the course surrounded leading peers on campus both academically and in non-academic groups. In order to enroll for the course, we all had to be involved in some sort of leadership activity on campus. This ended up creating a diverse group of leaders who were able to compare and discuss leadership challenges across the university. We also learned about how to effectively help peers and be a liaison between university operations and independent students. Throughout the course, we read and discussed chapters of “The Student Leadership Challenge” by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. This heightened our awareness of how to be leaders of peers and how to navigate through college as a peer leader. I will definitely use the information I gained through this course to help me be a more flexible leader. In addition, I gained valuable insights into who I am as a leader which helps me stay true to my established leadership style when necessary. 

In terms of the Social Change Model, I learned about leadership at the individual and group level. Through our weekly recitation activities, I learned to examine what leadership practices I am enabling and how to shift if I need to do so. I gained insights into my self-consciousness and congruence with my beliefs and leadership practices. At a group level, we learned how to collaborate not only with followers but also with peer leaders across the Virginia Tech campus.  Overall, I was able to hone my skills in conversing with civility, collaborating, and reminding myself to stay committed through this dynamic leadership course. I enjoyed having reflections every so often throughout the semester. Here are two examples of reflections I wrote about my experiences with peer leadership last semester:

SOC 2004: Social Problems

Social Problems is a course designed to examine international and domestic social issues. The course focused on both common historical social issues as well as contemporary social issues both specific to the United States and more broadly across other nations. The core leadership concepts that this course touched on include identifying macro-level societal issues, understanding how leaders have approached these situations, brainstorming about approaching modern societal issues, and understanding how we can impact these issues even as students. We were encouraged to think critically about the causes, current states, and the futures of various social issues across the globe. Lastly, we were able to investigate a micro-level social issue, focusing on a local, state, or regional level issue. 

This course allowed me to understand the sociological systems in play more broadly for common social issues. Personally, I presented on how increased globalization has impacted climate change and gained a strong understanding of how globalized technology has both helped and harmed the Earth. Although this was a small project, understanding the everyday impacts of a global issue allowed me to take knowledge about climate change back to my service organization. We were able to use only recyclable materials for our construction and focused on partnering with organizations who had our sustainability goals in mind. Overall, this course allowed me to understand what the common issues are across society, which will allow me to be able to interact well with others in the future in the best interests of people worldwide. 

This course touched on all three aspects of the Social Change Model, in my perspective. I was able to develop personal research skills to determine issues and independently brainstorm solutions. I was also able to communicate this knowledge with both my class and with my service organization, allowing for broad group communication and collaboration. Lastly, I was able to examine sociological issues that impact societies locally and globally. This broad understanding will help me in the future by providing a systematic understanding of social problems today and how to approach them as a leader. 

This course was of particular interest to me because of my ability to bridge my knowledge across disciplines of Leadership and Sociology. Here are links to two assignments that I am proud of from this course: a presentation on globalization and climate change and my final paper about social inequalities and mass incarceration.

SOC 3004: Social Inequality

I took Social Inequality online during the Spring 2018 semester. This course was designed to cultivate an understanding of social inequalities that permeate the United States. The course focused on inequalities such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. In addition, we were expected to understand how American culture represents, and sometimes perpetuates, systemic inequality. Because this class was online, I was able to take more time to read and focus on lectures that challenged me without the pressure to speak in class about sensitive topics. I believe this format of teaching allowed me more freedom to think deeply about social inequalities. 

Throughout the course, the leadership concepts centered around understanding macro-level prejudices against certain groups and understanding how to combat these prejudices both on personal and societal levels. We focused on how to identify when bias is occurring and what kinds of biases are more common in certain areas and demographics. Utilizing this knowledge, we were able to reflect on our personal experiences with bias and examine if we stood up for others in the face of prejudice. The course focused significantly on personal reflection and personal biases to understand sometimes people are contributors to prejudice without even consciously being aware of it at times. 

The Social Inequality course helped me reflect internally about biases that I have been exposed to throughout my life. Through tests such as the Implicit Association Test, I was able to understand that some biases are unconscious. As a result, the course inspired me to constantly challenge my biases and reflect on why I may have certain automatic thoughts, helping me reflect on my consciousness of self. I have tried to change my own biases and work with groups to promote inclusion and lessen the level of social inequalities in my organizations on campus. Through this process of small changes, I believe that the “normal biases” in America can be reduced to abnormalities in thoughts. In addition, I was able to understand that some biases were not congruent with my beliefs.

Overall, I have a better understanding of group differences, how to address them appropriately, and how to make the shift from social inequalities to social differences that still hold equal positions in society. Here are links to my first reflection and my final paper. The differences in these two papers are evidence of a deepened understanding of social inequality and the ability to apply theory to real-world issues. 

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