For four decades, the Emerging Leaders (EL) program has provided extensive leadership training and mentorship to first-time, first-year undergraduate students at UNC Charlotte. In EL, students cultivate their leadership skills inside workshops and through deliberate practice. In that first year, they are exposed to leadership opportunities across campus and beyond and become actively involved in service-learning projects.
Student Affairs Research and Assessment conducted a study to understand the impact of the EL program on the lives of the students who participate. The research investigated two main questions:
- How did EL shape their college experience?
- How does EL impact their lives beyond graduation?
The combined stories create an Emerging Leaders dashboard. The dashboard serves as a looking glass to explore what happens when programs like EL set students up for success in Year 1.