The Engineering Leadership Program: A co-curricular learning environment by and for students

Abstract

This article describes the Engineering Leadership Program at
Iowa State University, a pilot educational program for leadership
development of undergraduate engineering students, designed
and built with student ownership and leadership. A client focused
leadership model, articulated through an iterative year long
group exercise, with anticipated learning outcomes, and competencies that help students achieve them, guides program activities and individual leadership development plans of the students. As the pilot phase nears completion, efforts are underway to create an effective strategy for assessing learning outcomes while maintaining the opportunity for individualized leadership development pathways. Discussions are also ongoing about integrating components of the ELP into the curriculum, to have broader student impact.