President's Leadership Program
The President's Leadership Program (PLP) at Colorado State University is a comprehensive leadership development experience consisting of three year-long academic and experiential courses designed to meaningfully explore the personal, interpersonal, organizational, and social dimensions of leadership. PLP provides tremendous opportunity for participating students to expand their knowledge about themselves, diversity issues, values and ethics in the greater context of leadership development.
Established in 1989 as a one-year program, PLP has grown to a fourteen-credit experience that encompasses all levels of leadership development. In addition to academic work, students participate in retreats and service-learning projects that allow them to apply the knowledge and training acquired through class readings, activities and homework.
PLP is an excellent opportunity for students who wish to maximize their opportunities for personal challenge, growth, and leadership development while at Colorado State University.
Classes
- A Call to Lead is an introductory leadership course based on the Social Change Model of Leadership. This model describes the process of creating positive change in the student’s community. A Call to Lead is designed to be an experiential journey through personal leadership development and encompasses topics such as values, service, and community. In the fall, students design and implement a service project that addresses a need in the Fort Collins community. In the spring, students have the opportunity to participate in a weekend-long cross-cultural service project off-campus. (2 credits per semester, 4 credits total)
- Leadership as Life is an intermediate leadership course that puts leadership theory into practice by providing students with an experiential journey through personal leadership development. Through course readings, practical application of leadership through involvement in student organizations and class reflection, students enrolled in this course will explore how leadership opportunities serve as vehicles for service. Students also study real-life examples of ineffective and unethical leadership through case studies and course readings. The year culminates in an individualized service project with the student’s selected student organization. (2 credits per semester, 4 credits total)
- Leadership Capstone is designed as the ultimate leadership experience for undergraduate students who have had multiple collegiate level leadership experiences. This course provides students with the opportunity to build on their leadership expertise through a highly interactive and experiential learning process that explores concepts such as globalization, cross-cultural communication, and organizational behavior. Students are exposed to practical and applied leadership experiences through multi-day retreats, guest speakers, case studies, personal inventories, and a community-based research project that serves a local non-profit agency. Students also have the opportunity to visit with the President of Colorado State University. (3 credits per semester, 6 credits total)
Application
Interested students must apply for admission to the President's Leadership Program. The courses are not sequential; therefore, you do not need to be in PLP previously to apply. Please note that students must apply each year for each individual class and that enrollment in one class does not guarantee enrollment in subsequent classes.
- Incoming first-year students may only apply for A Call to Lead.
- Continuing CSU students may apply for A Call to Lead , Leadership As Life or Leadership Capstone. Please note that there is one application for the three classes. Based upon experience and interview, students will be placed in the appropriate PLP class.
The applications consist of short essay questions, a list of two references, and a telephone or an in-person interview with a representative of the selection committee. Selection is based on the applicant's interest in leadership development, commitment to growth and learning, and past involvement experiences (service, leadership, etc).
Scholarships
Scholarships are available for select students from the El Pomar Foundation. These students serve as El Pomar Scholars and are required to participate in Colorado Leadership Alliance (CLA) events. Additionally, other scholarships are offered to a small number of enrolled PLP students. Scholarship applications are available after the start of the fall semester.
More Information
If you have any questions about the President's Leadership Program, please contact Alexis Kanda-Olmstead, Assistant Director of the President’s Leadership Program at (970) 491-2181 or via e-mail at Alexis.Kanda-Olmstead@Colostate.Edu or Christina Farhart, Graduate Coordinator for the President’s Leadership Program at (970) 491-0970 or via email at Christina.Farhart@colostate.edu in the Office of Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement.