Leadership Studies

Advocacy: for Evangelical Leaders

Faculty: Mary Kendall Hope, Ph.D. (Profile)

Description: This E-Tutorial explores the skills and concepts needed to understand and become an advocate. Advocacy involves the work completed by an individual or entity on behalf of one “side” in a conflict situation.

The problems brought to an advocate impact the life or lives of the individual, family members, or other members of the organization he/she represents. Common examples include domestic abuse victims, orphaned or estranged children, and elder abuse victims. Other profession organizations provide advocacy; these include community counseling organizations and policy victims’ advocacy programs. Taking this course would be a good preparation for more advanced training as a professional advocate or victims’ advocate in any capacity (privately or professionally).

Required Reading:

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Facilitation: Professional Problem-Solving with Churches and Professional Organizations

Faculty: Mary Kendall Hope, Ph.D., Professor of Mediation Studies (Profile)

Description: This E-Tutorial explores the skills and concepts needed to complete a successful professional facilitation. Facilitation involves the established practice of facilitation techniques to assist groups, businesses, and professional organizations to resolve problems.

The problems brought to a facilitator impact all that are a part of the group, business, or organization. Common examples include disputes faced by community & civic organizations such as school boards, city councils, or county governing entities. Other groups who seek a professional facilitator include churches, businesses, clubs or unions. The course provides an overview of professional facilitation techniques with a single role-play at the end. Taking this course would be a good preparation for more advanced training as a professional facilitator.

Required Reading:

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Human Diversity in Education

Faculty: Dr. Juana O. Watson (Profile)

Description: This E-Tutorial describes an exploration of different topics related to teaching, mentoring, counseling and working with an ever changing diverse, immigrant and multi-ethnic society.

E-Tutorial Goals: To develop appropriate practices for cultural competency for diverse communities. To incorporate best practices and gaining skills in intercultural communication and interaction in order to reach out to diverse, multi-ethnic and immigrant communities.

Required Reading:

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Identity, Immigration, and Citizenship

Faculty: Dr. Juana O. Watson (Profile)

Description: This E-Tutorial explores the abundance of new scholarship on the evolution of citizenship in the United States. Ethnographers, anthropologists, sociologists, historians and other scholars have studied the ever-changing criteria (race, identity, class, culture, religion) that have produced such categories as “citizen,” “resident aliens,” “nationals,” and “illegal aliens.” One of the purposes of these readings is to encourage us to understand the Latino/a identity and citizenship in a comparative frame work. The emphasis would be related to identity, citizenship, race, and human experience in the context of cultural migration.

Required Reading:

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Leadership and Personal Spiritual Transformation

Faculty: Rev. Susan Fowler, Ph.D., Dorothy Day Professor of Spirituality (Profile)

Description:  "The grammar of transformational change is the invitational question, not the declarative answer."  These words from the Fetzer Institute form the structure for our exploration into the connection between the spiritual experience of personal transformation and its relationship to transformational leadership: What would it mean for you as a leader to cultivate the inner life? To take time apart for personal reflection and spiritual deepening?  What would your leadership arising from your core of spiritual groundedness look like?Students will reflect upon these questions, relate the readings to some aspect of their interior experience of spiritual conversion, and synthesize their thoughts on the relationship between their personal spirituality and their leadership practice.

Required reading and viewing:

  • Heifetz, Ronald and Marty Linsky.  Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002. 
  • Palmer, Parker.  Leading from Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership.  Washington, DC: The Servant Leadership School, 1990.  This pamphlet is also available for order by mail from:  The Potter’s House Book Service, 1658 Columbia Road, NW, Washington DC  20009; Tel:  (202) 232-5483.
  • Robb, Paul.  “Conversion as a Human Experience.”  Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits  14.3 (1982): 1-58.  A PDF document of this article will be distributed with the course syllabus.
  • The Hero’s Adventure.  (First video in the series Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers)  VHS.  Mystic Fire Video, 1986.  This video may also be available from any public library or video store. 

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Morality and Leadership

Faculty: Rev. Susan Fowler, Ph.D., Dorothy Day Professor of Spirituality (Profile)

Description: Today's leaders face challenges not only to their skill, but to their personal character as well. Authenticity in spirit as well as actions - being able to "walk the talk" - is a critical component in leadership that helps others become empowered leaders themselves. In this course, you will learn about the moral dimensions and ethical challenges surrounding the practice of values-based leadership by exploring such topics as the moral challenges of power and self-interest; public and private morality of leaders; leadership and the common good; and moral leadership and culture. You will share your reflections in a weekly 500 word essay, and conclude with a summary paper of about 3000 words synthesizing course readings with a self-analysis on your own identity as moral leader.

Required Reading:

Ciulla, Joanne. The Ethics of Leadership. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. 2003.

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Prophetic Leadership

Faculty: Rev. Susan Fowler, Ph.D., Dorothy Day Professor of Spirituality (Profile)

Description:
The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote,
“But poets should exert a double vision; should have eyes to see near things
As comprehensively as if afar they took their point of sight,
And distant things as intimately deep as if they touched them.”
Like the poet, the prophet sees: the injustice inherent in the dominant culture, its effects on those who suffer under it, and the vision to “nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us” (Brueggeman).

Characteristic of prophetic leadership is the passion for possibility: a hope born of compassion that enables the realization of our deepest selves to become free and full participants in the world. In this etutorial, students will explore the tasks of prophetic leadership, and reflect on their call to practice it in their ministry settings.

Required reading:

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Servant Leadership

Faculty: Rev. Susan Fowler, Ph.D., Dorothy Day Professor of Spirituality (Profile)

Description: Robert Greenleaf noted that the servant-leader is servant first. His or her desire to lead comes from a desire to serve, and is manifested in the care s/he takes in ensuring that others grow into greater freedom, wisdom, health, and empowered leadership. In this E-Tutorial, the student will reflect on such topics as the nature and characteristics of servant leadership, the servant leader as one who is called, the relationship between radical hospitality and servant leadership, and putting servant leadership into practice.

Each week, the student will read essays from the Judeo-Christian wisdom writings and respected authorities in the field, including Margaret Wheatley, Robert Greenleaf and Parker Palmer.  The student will have then have an opportunity to reflect on leadership concepts and ideas through the required writings and the E-Tutorial will conclude with a final paper which synthesizes course ideas with the students personal experience as servant leader.

Required reading:

 

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Spiritual Transformation and Social Change

Faculty: Rev. Susan Fowler, Ph.D., Dorothy Day Professor of Spirituality (Profile)

Description: In his preface to the text for this course, Robert Egan asks the question, what is the relationship between the mystical and the political dimensions of religious existence? In this course, you will explore theoretical and practical perspectives on the subject through the lens of St. Teresa of Avila, Ignatian spirituality of service, the religious tradition of African-American women, and contemporary social justice figures.

Required Reading:

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Social Entrepreneurship as a “Gospel Compatible” Business Model

Faculty: The Reverend Dr. Joanne Neal (Profile)

Description: This e-tutorial focuses on two essential questions:

  • To what extent might social entrepreneurship be a constructive model for the integration of ethical business and management practices and Christian faith values?
  • How might social enterprise allow the Church and business to partner in the resolution of intractable social problems with which social entrepreneurship is concerned?

The processes of globalization have resulted in both positive and negative outcomes for human beings and for the environment. Social entrepreneurship, as a constructive outcome of globalization, has its own particular niche within the global market economy. Social entrepreneurship is a phenomenon that has been steadily gaining ground in the past two decades. It is a dimension of entrepreneurial activity aimed at generating social value and creating sustainable change rather than focusing on producing monetary profit as its primary goal. Social entrepreneurship, at its heart, is highly compatible with the values, beliefs, and goals of the Christian Church in its mission to achieve social, economic, and environmental justice. It has tremendous potential to be an inspiring exemplar of what it means to live out the Gospels.

Required Reading:

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Transcending Cycles of Violence

Faculty: Mary Kendall Hope, Ph.D., Professor of Mediation Studies (Profile)

Description: This E_Tutorial explores the evangelical leadership skills needed to confront religious conflicts.  The group behavior patterns that lead to social conflict are explored with an emphasis on methods to break long-standing cycles of violence and transcend patterns of ineffective functioning that have perpetuated conflict.  Dr. John Paul Lederach's groundbreaking writings lead the field in creating the stimulus for changes that will stimulate peace.  Evangelical leaders are uniquely posed (within every type of cultural community) to lead and inspire social groups to transcend cycles of violence.  Strong leadership is what is needed to enable congregants and communities to create new pathways of peaceful interaction.  In today's world of rising crime, gang membership, and terrorist threats, the skills to break and transcend "cycles of violence" are sorely needed. This course will provide students with the techniques needed to lead congregations and communities away from violence and toward the light of a more healthy and positive peace.

Required reading:

 

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