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College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

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Why Pursue It

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CALS Leadership Certificate

Why pursue it?

Simply put, you will be in leadership positions in your profession and your community, and this experience will begin to prepare you for those leadership roles.

Specifically, if you pursue this certificate you will:

  • Pursue experiences in order to learn important leadership skills and knowledge
  • Reflect on your experiences to process what you learned and how it is relevant to your development as a leader
  • Gain leadership skills and knowledge that cut across many leadership styles, approaches and theories, rather than focusing on the skills or perspectives of one theoretical approach or model
  • Learn with and from a leadership mentor, a CALS faculty or staff with special interest in helping you develop your leadership skills.

Our world and your profession need your leadership, yet being a leader is not always easy or intuitive. The sooner you begin thinking about the issues that are important for leaders and considering how or where you are suited to make a difference, the greater and more widespread your impact will be.

If that is not persuasive enough, seems too intangible, or too far in the future, please consider a recent survey of employers who said they are looking for people who have the ability to: manage self (aka—-be self-aware), communicate effectively, work well with others, manage important tasks, and mobilize innovation and create change (Evers, Rush & Berdrow, 1998). As you earn this certificate you will be learning exactly those skills which employers seek in new employees!!