LDR 101: Leadership Prologue

LDR-101 (Solomon): Close Listening and Popular Music (4.00)

Effective communication is a key component of successful leadership. Skillful communication involves more than writing or speaking clearly and convincingly—it requires listening. This course uses popular music to hone critical listening skills, as students apply research, close listening, and aural analysis to identify the various elements of a song (melody, lyrics, harmony, instrumentation, form) and describe how those elements interact and blend to form meaning.

Taught by Jason Solomon.

LDR-101 (Iqbal): Ethics and Leadership (4.00)

This course will explore the intersection of ethics and leadership within the workplace. We will look at the pivotal role leaders play in cultivating ethical behavior through exploration of case studies, interactive discussions, self-assessment exercises, and reading assignments. The goal of the course is to gain understanding of the fundamental frameworks that underpin ethical decision-making and moral leadership and equipping yourself with valuable insights for navigating the complexities of the professional landscape.

Taught by Roshan Iqbal.

LDR-101 (Meyer-Lee): Leadership and Gender in the Young Adult Fantasy Novel and Film (4.00)

In this seminar, we will critically evaluate the representation of leadership and gender in several young adult fantasy novels and the films based on them. After reading some feminist, gender, and leadership theory, we will examine closely the ways in which these novels and films construct positive and negative models of leadership and of gender, and the ways in which they relate these models to each other. We will assess how much these models do and do not conform to existing norms and how successful they may be at challenging those norms.  Examples of possible novels and films include The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; The Golden Compass; Binti; and The Hunger Games. Students will write reflection papers and analyses of films and novels, and, in teams as the final project, design their own young adult fantasy story, and write, film, and screen a segment of that story.

Taught by Bobby Meyer-Lee.

LDR-101 (Drescher): Leadership and German Science Fiction: Anticipating the Future (4.00)

What leadership qualities will we need in the future? What will guide our decisions about how we live our lives in conditions that we can’t yet foresee? In this course, we will familiarize ourselves with the “remarkable set of tools” (Holland James) that science fiction provides for its readers: to imagine, learn, and strategize about alternative realities. Science fiction prompts us to think through complex systems, test assumptions, connect disciplines, understand the fragility of our world or ecosystem, and, finally, to compare and choose between competing approaches. Science fiction, like leadership, requires us to develop a bird’s-eye view of our world and adapt to rapid change. Reading and viewing selected German science fiction novels and films (in English translation) we will develop intercultural competence and pay particular attention to another culture’s assessment of future problems, its approaches to solutions, and to how its characters embody competing discourses and rationalizations.

Taught by Barbara Drescher.

LDR-101 (Stamant N): Life Writing and Leadership: Social Justice and Cultural Memory (4.00)

Personal narratives and stories about lived experiences galvanize movement after movement, promoting civil and human rights across the world. How? What is it about life stories--life writing--that can mobilize and convince? What is the relationship between bearing witness and providing testimony? How can life writing and acts of memory provide counternarratives that promote social justice? And, how do we see these works as acts of leadership? In this course, we will consider how social justice and cultural memory intersect with personal narratives, and how those narratives demonstrate different approaches to leadership. We will read life writing--that is, “the umbrella term that encompasses the extensive array and diverse modes of personal storytelling that takes experiential history as a starting point” (Schaffer and Smith 7)--with particular attention to how people construct themselves, their lives, and their communities. In so doing, we will see how personal narratives can demand recognition and function as a call to action. 

Taught by Nicole Stamant.

LDR-101 (Stamant J): Media, Communication, and the Shape of Our World (4.00)

After Johannes Gutenberg “invented” modern printing with movable type in the fifteenth century, it became much easier to disseminate information to large groups of people. Yet, the question remains: how is communication affected by the medium that exists between the speaker and the audience? Was Marshall McLuhan right when he wrote that “the medium is the message”? In this class we will consider how media has attempted to facilitate communication, transmit information, and tell stories, from Gutenberg to the present. We will examine old media and new media alike, including contemporary modes such as digital media, social media, and celebrity media. How does an understanding of, and ability to manipulate, media help leaders to lead? What is the relationship between media and leadership? We will interrogate these questions and this topic from different angles and by looking at various kinds of texts to create a discussion about the importance of media in the past, our present moment, and the future.

This class will have a strong focus on how arguments are made in the media and will examine topics pertaining to the ethics surrounding media and users. We will read some literary texts (including a film), write rhetorical analyses, and build toward a team debate in which the questions to be debated will come from the students. In the past, we've debated questions such as, "who should bear responsibility for the content on socia media platforms?" In the past, we've had two guest speakers, and I hope to bring them back. The first is a book historian and the second is the Director of Public Policy for Meta.

Taught by James Stamant.

LDR-101 (Wolfe): Mental Distress & Well-being (4.00)

Mental distress remains a major health issue across the globe, despite growing attention toward the importance of mental well-being. In this course, we will discuss patterns and trends in mental wellness through individual, interpersonal, and societal lenses using psychological, sociological and public health theories. This course will seek to understand the mechanisms of distress, resilience and burnout before delving into cross-cultural experiences of mental wellness in social groups. Throughout the course, we will consider the role of mental well-being in societal roles, such as students, professionals, and leaders and discuss differential experiences among identity-based groups, such as communities of color, LGBTQI+ people and disabled communities. Importantly, we will discuss student-specific stressors and relevant strategies to mitigate, prevent and address mental distress across the life course.

Taught by Atticus Wolfe.

LDR-101 (King): Not All Heroes Wear Capes: Leadership and the Legacy of Resistance (4.00)

From Warsaw Ghetto partisans to journalists on the frontlines of war; from the nascent lyrics of Tupac Shakur to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, this course will explore everyday deeds that morphed into extraordinary acts of resistance. Through historic case studies and current events, we’ll journey through select acts of civil disobedience - simple gestures, words, art, and music that birthed movements and sparked collective courage. Who were/are these ordinary citizens leading the charge of hope? As we confront an era transfixed by fear and polarization, what steps can we take to mirror their actions, to harness our angst and drive social change? Sometimes, the arc of the moral universe requires a welder and blowtorch to bend toward justice - we’ll figure out how to fire it up together.

Taught by Lorrie King.

LDR-101 (Cain): Race, Gender and Social Change: Case Studies of Leadership in US Women's History (4.00)

Struggles for racial and gender equality represent central narratives in the history of the United States, and the leadership of American women has been essential to those narratives. Using a case study approach, this course will examine the lives, leadership, identities and values of several prominent—and some not-so-prominent—American women whose ideas and activism have shaped social conditions in various historical periods. Main topics include women’s participation in the American Revolution, women in abolition, women as labor organizers, women’s suffrage, anti-lynching campaigns, women in the Civil Rights struggle, feminism and the women’s rights movement, Native American women’s activism and women’s leadership in more contemporary campaigns. As we consider these topics, we will maintain an ongoing class discussion about what constitutes leadership, whether there are distinctively female forms of effective leadership, and how personal identity informs leadership issues.

Taught by Mary Cain.

LDR-101 (Yep): The Art of Science (4.00)

This course explores the role of leadership by looking at connections between art and science. We may be used to the idea of science as a cold, hard progression of reason, like a geometric proof. However, the scientific process occurs at the edge of human knowledge, where we do not know the answers. How do we find them? How do we discover the fundamental nature of our world? How do we even ask the right questions? It turns out there is a great deal of creativity in science, both in research and in presenting results. Leadership in science requires us to combine rigorous research with clear and convincing presentations. In this course we will study scientists, thinkers, and researchers from Galileo Galilei and Leonardo da Vincito to Dr. Nia Amara and examine what role art has played in their scientific endeavors. We will draw, paint, read scientific papers, play with data, and analyze the differences and crossover between artistic and scientific experiences. We will incorporate science into art and art into science and see how doing so could help you become a leader in your field. No prior artistic or scientific prowess is required.

Taught by Alexandra Yep.

LDR-101 (Bishop): Visual and Collaborative Thinking: Teaming with People Who Think Differently (4.00)

This course will provide you with the skills to harness different thinking styles, leverage visual thinking tools, and collaborate effectively with people who think differently. You will explore the connection between creativity, teamwork and strategic problem-solving. Whether your future lies in business, science, the arts, or any other field, the skills you develop here will be invaluable. By the end of this course, you will not only have a deeper understanding of your personal thinking style but also possess a versatile toolkit of visual and collaborative skills applicable to any field of study. Prepare to lead, innovate and succeed in an increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative world.

Taught by Carlee Bishop.