LEAD Program

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Mission Statement

Associated Students (AS) is the primary advocate for students at California State University, Northridge and provides excellent, meaningful programs and services designed to enhance and create a spirited, learning-focused campus environment.

Student Leadership

The role of the Student Leadership office in Associated Students is to provide leadership information, advice, training and opportunities to students enrolled at CSU Northridge, and to allow students to move from one stage to another in pursuit of a lifetime of servant leadership amongst their communities.

The LEAD Program

The purpose of the LEAD program is to achieve two goals:

  1. To provide mentoring relationships, leadership training and opportunities to incoming Freshmen and transfer students, with the goal of growing future leaders in AS and on campus;
  2. To provide opportunities for current AS Senators and Cabinet members to advance in their skills by learning mentorship, advisement, and training skills as a mentor for a member of the LEAD cohort each year.

COMPONENTS OF THE LEAD PROGRAM

COHORT SIZE/COMPOSITION

The first cohort will be made up of freshmen/transfer students admitted to CSUN for the fall 2020 semester. Students should be enrolled in the regular university (students enrolled in the Tseng College of Extended Learning do not pay the AS fee and are not eligible for the LEAD program). There will be a maximum of forty (40) students accepted into the first cohort.

AS MENTORS

LEAD mentors will come from the current class of AS Senators and Cabinet members. The Manager for Student Leadership (MSL), in consultation with the AS President, Vice President and Chief of Staff, will determine which members will participate as members in the program.

MENTOR TRAINING

Those Senators/Cabinet members selected as mentors for the fall semester will attend a 4 hour training prior to the first meeting of the new Cohort. The training will include • Background and purpose of the program • Program Learning Outcomes • Developing the traits of the Matador • Responsibilities of being a Mentor • How to be an effective Mentor

COHORT RECRUITMENT

AS will begin its recruitment by advertising at each year’s EXPLORE CSUN event for new/prospective Matadors. AS will also advertise at Orientation, Camp Matador, and all activities that occur the first three weeks of the fall semester each year (including Orientation, Housing, USU and AS events).

COHORT APPLICATION / REGISTRATION

An explanation of the LEAD Program’s goals, learning outcomes and other information will be available on the AS CSUN Web page. The web page will include an on-line application that will be used to evaluate students for membership to the cohort. AS will be looking for students who can articulate a desire to learn more about leadership, get more involved on campus, and leave a legacy of leadership in their future lives.

AS will open applications at EXPLORE CSUN each year, and close them at the end of the second week of the fall semester. Applications will be reviewed by the AS President and Manager for Student Leadership, and the cohort of a maximum of 40 freshman/transfer students will be selected.

Members of the cohort will be selected based on their written answers to the on-line application. Questions on the application will include but not be limited to the following:

  • Basic identifying info (name, year in school, student ID number to verify status as a CSUN incoming freshman or a new transfer student)
  • What prior leadership experience do you have? (examples – high school student government, Scouting positions, etc.)
  • What do you hope to gain by participating in the LEAD program?
  • What are your goals for your time at CSUN?
  • What do you feel is the most important quality for a leader to have, and why?

PROGRAM ELEMENTS

1. The LEAD Cohort will meet weekly, at a time to be determined.
2. The group will function under the direction of the MSL, and a Senate representative to LEAD who will be nominated by the AS President, approved by the Senate, and serve a one-year term as the Senate representative to LEAD. (This will count as the Senators committee assignment for the year).
3. The Senate LEAD rep will work jointly with the MSL to make sure the following are part of each year’s LEAD Program:
a. Weekly meetings/teachings/events/tours/learning opportunities/trainings starting the fourth week of the regular semester.
b. The program will run for two semesters – fall and spring.
c. Mentors will be recruited and trained from both the Senate and Cabinet, and will meet weekly with their mentee’s to follow up on the information from the previous Cohort meeting.
d. Cohort members will be assigned as members of one of the following AS Leadership committees:
i. Lobby Corps
ii. Clubs and Organizations
iii. Diversity and Inclusion
iv. Other committees as developed/available
e. Tours of each department of AS, including information on how to be involved as a freshmen/transfer and opportunities to link in to those departments.
f. Specific trainings for each cohort will include the following:
i. Effective time management
ii. Strengths Quest personality typing, True Colors conflict resolution and communication skills;
iii. Servant leadership
iv. The AS Organizational structure, departments and elections process
v. Campus clubs and organizations and their relationship to campus/AS
vi. Building, representing and serving a constituency; shared governance; CSSA;
vii. Apathy, advocacy and activism.
viii. The Five Qualities of a Matador (one week module on each quality).
4. Whenever possible, AS will invite speakers to address the Cohort. An emphasis will be placed on looking for current/former AS leaders who have success in the particular area being discussed for the week. This will allow us to bring in former AS Presidents and Vice Presidents for more than just President’s Day each February, as well as formers Senators and cabinet members who want to give back to upcoming student leaders.
5. The Cohort will serve as part of the set-up and service team for Re-Boot camp each January, which will give all of AS an opportunity to see servant leadership in action. They will act as hosts, greeters, assist with serving, aid with games and trophies, decorate and help with tear-down. This will be a culminating event for their fall semester involvement.
6. Spring semester will focus on the opportunity for the Cohort to be involved in:
a. Information sessions specifically related to running for AS Office that semester.
b. Joining a campus club/organization or AS department/committee specifically with the goal of servant leadership.
7. Mentors will work with their Mentees on a final project, which will be a presentation to the entire cohort on one of the qualities of the Matador they feel they most exemplify, and how they have worked to exemplify that quality throughout the year. The final presentations will be developed with the guidance and input of their mentor, and will be presented in front of the cohort and all the mentors.
8. The LEAD Cohort will be celebrated in the following ways:
a. The letter exchange – each mentor and mentee will write one another a letter reflecting on their journey over the past year, and exchange those letters at their final event.
b. The Tradition of the Rose – the final cohort meeting will include a tradition of the rose ceremony.
c. A group picture at the Matador Statue – a copy of which will go to each member of the cohort and each mentor.
d. The LEAD shirt – INCOMING cohort member accepted to the program will receive a j-shirt that says “I dare to LEAD”
e. At the end of re-boot camp, all cohort members remaining in the program and committee to fall will receive the “LEAD” pin from their mentor.
f. At the successful completion of the two semester program (and at the AS Leadership awards luncheon) successful members of the cohort will receive the “I LEAD” jacket, a program completion certificate signed by the Exec. Director and AS President and a red rose.
g. Each cohort member will receive an additional red rose if they:
i. Ran for AS office, and/or
ii. Were elected to the AS office they ran for, and/or
iii. Were appointed to an office within Associated Students, and/or
iv. Became a member/leader of a campus club/organization.
h. The graduating cohort will be recommended to the MIC department’s RED Academy as a second piece to their lifelong commitment to leadership. The staff person in charge of the RED Academy will be invited to interact with the cohort each fall and spring (teach a workshop, lead a tour, some type of involvement), and we will invite that person to be present to congratulate the LEAD group as they finish their year, and hopefully welcome them/iinvite them to become RED members the next fall.

Approved: November 23, 2020 (15-0-0)