College of Arts & Sciences Farber Center

Undergraduate

Leadership Studies Minor

The South Dakota Board of Regents established the W. O. Farber Center for Civic Leadership in the fall of 1997 as a Center of Excellence. The Center is housed within the Department of Political Science and offers a minor in Civic Leadership Studies. The term "civic" was chosen to emphasize that the Center's focus is not narrowly governmental, but rather broadly inclusive of all aspects of our lives together as citizens of a community, state, nation and world. 

Our Mission

The mission of the Center is to prepare students and help communities to face difficult public problems in a manner consistent with constitutional values. The Center fosters responsible and ethical leadership through education, service, and scholarship in the public interest.

The W. O. Farber Center for Civic Leadership was founded on the belief that there is leadership within every person. Its initiative stresses the importance of principled leadership based on core values and emphasizes leadership as a process, not a position. Viewed in this way, leadership requires responsible action of individuals in every part of society--not simply those in formal leadership roles.

Program Sequence

Semester Outline
Topics, Knowledge,
Skills & Abilities
Credits

End of 2nd Semester
Spring (or August)

    
Orientation Core
LDR 204 The Skills of Leadership
(Mt. Rushmore Institute)

--general theory of leadership and recruits students into Leadership minor
--leaders in granite
--basic skills component

3

3rd or 4th Semester
Spring

    
Leadership Enhancement Core I
LDR 310 Leadership Theory and Practice I
(also IdEA 308)		 --theory into practice, skills building
--more thorough overview of leadership theory
--sample texts: Huges, Gwinnett, & Curphy

3

5th and 6th Semesters
Fall and Spring

    
Management Improvement Core
LDR 404 Leadership Communication and Conflict Resolution (Fall or Spring)		 --interpersonal communication skills
--conflict resolution and mediation

3
Leadership Enhancement Core II
LDR 401 Advanced Leadership Theory and Practice (Fall)		 --course on implementing and leading taking students into the study and practice of transformational leadership and beyond
--brief review of group/team work and organizational behavior principles

3
Civic Engagement and Partnership Core I
LDR 464 Politics and Leadership in Literature (Fall or Spring)		 --literature-based course on recognizing and acting in leadership situations

3

7th and 8th Semester
Fall or Spring

    

Civic Engagement and Partnership Cell
LDR 480 Service Learning
(IdEA 408 may also qualify)

 --service learning course and serves as a capstone to the LDR minor

3

TOTAL CREDIT HOURS

18

Students may petition the director for a specific section to replace one of the required courses. The following is a sample of some courses that may qualify (some courses have prerequisites, which apply).

  • BADM 369 Organizational Behavior and Theory
  • BADM 365 Business and Professional Speaking (also SPCM)
  • BADM 485 Small Group Behavior
  • LDR 301 Public and Private Leadership
  • LDR 303 Leadership in Diverse Cultures
  • PSYC 430 Organizational Psychology
  • SOC 400 Leadership and Organization
  • SPCM 410 Organizational Communication
  • SPCM 411 Advanced Organizational Communication
  • SPCM 470 Intercultural Communication
  • SPCM 495 Team Building and Group Decision Making

Other courses upon prior approval of the Leadership Studies Coordinator.

A Conceptual Model of Civic Leadership

A Conceptual Model of Civic Leadership informs the Center's activities. The model suggests that three key components influence the look and feel of civic leadership: 

  1. Leadership enhancement, which focuses on both the study and teaching of leadership principles and practices.
  2. Management improvement, which concentrates on building and developing sound managerial practices to assist in collective action.
  3. Civic engagement and partnerships which emphasize the integral nature of community and individual involvement in the work of social governance.

Each of these three elements, including the idea of civic leadership itself, is a topic of educational activities, advisory services, and research. The relationship of these elements to each other in the work of public leadership is also, itself, a significant area of research and teaching. The methodology most appropriate for research, education, and advisory services is that of "action research," where theory and practice mutually inform each other through engagement with real life experience and thought. Action research, therefore, grounds the theoretical and practical aspects of the Center's work, and applied research is consistently a focus of faculty, especially through the Government Research Bureau affiliated with the Center. 

Curriculum

The undergraduate curriculum placed in the context of the Conceptual Model:

Civic Leadership/Leadership Studies Minor

Leadership Enhancement
Help students recognize the importance of leadership as a distinct technology and develop leadership capacities they can meaningfully implement to complement their life's work.

Management Improvement
Help students recognize management as a distinct technology and help them develop the skills needed to manage resources entrusted to them in an efficient and effective manner. 

Civic Engagement and Partnership
Help citizens develop resources within the community to diagnose problems and opportunities, identify solutions, and create opportunities.

LDR 310 Leadership Theory and Practice
(Also IdEA 308)

LDR 204 Skills of Leadership
(Mt. Rushmore Institute)

 LDR 464 Politics and Leadership in Literature

LDR 401 Advanced Leadership Theory and Practice

LDR 404 Leadership Communication and Conflict Resolution

LDR 480 Service-Learning Experience in Civic Leadership
(IdEA 408 may also qualify)