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Courtesy Photo / Brian Flanagan
Future visionaries: Cook Leadership Academy fellows discuss one of the keynote speakers at a leadership luncheon in a past year.

Leadership Academy equips future professionals

By Lauren Fitch GVL Managing Editor
8/30/2009

Of the many things making Grand Valley State University unique, one program setting it apart from any other university in Michigan is the Hauenstein Center's Peter Cook Leadership Academy.

Since its beginning in 2004, 30 to 40 GVSU students are inducted every year as fellows into the Cook Leadership Academy. Once in, the fellows attend monthly "Luncheons with Leaders" where they listen to influential leaders in the local community and have the opportunity to network and make connections.

"The best way we can serve the students is to cultivate their capacity for leadership," said Gleaves Whitney, director of the Hauenstein Center and founder of the Cook Leadership Academy. "We have the opportunity to make Grand Valley 'Leadership U.'"

Whitney said any student can benefit from the experience as a Leadership Academy fellow. Students can be nominated by a professor or apply on their own and are then interviewed before being accepted into the program.

The Leadership Fellows Program is only one aspect of the academy. Recently the Leadership Certificate Program was added, which requires students to attend four core workshops and two elective workshops on different aspects of leadership to earn the credential of the leadership certificate.

Associate director of the Hauenstein Center Brian Flanagan said the changes to the academy have taken it from a more scholastic approach focused on research to the current focus on developing relationships, networking and teaching professionalism.

Though "leadership" is a fairly abstract term, Flanagan said the academy breaks it down into three main principles of competence, confidence and contacts. The goal is to equip all Leadership Academy fellows with these traits during their time in the program.

Patrick Reagan, downtown development authority director for Portland, Mich., graduated from GVSU with a master's degree in public administration in 2008, after spending two years as a leadership fellow.

Reagan said the Leadership Academy gave him the opportunity to see how good leaders such as Thomas Haas, Whitney and Flanagan work today. He said the greatest lesson he learned was the distinct difference between leadership and management.

"Anybody can be a manager and order people to do a task," Reagan said. "It takes a special individual to lead people and get the most out of people."

He also noted the value of learning how to make connections and recommended the program for any serious student.

"Everybody's going to get something a little different from it," Reagan said. "It's for anyone who wants to be a better person, a better leader, a better member of the community."

Petra Alsoofy, a senior double majoring in political science and social studies, has been a Leadership fellow since the summer of 2008.

Alsoofy said her most memorable experience through the Leadership Academy was the "Shock of War, Trauma of Peace: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Roundtable Discussion" where she met Vietnam War veteran Jim Hodges.

"(The academy) teaches professionalism, which is needed in any career," Alsoofy said. "It gives us really good tools to deal with most, if not all, situations that we'll face in our careers or in our everyday lives."

Alsoofy recommended the program to any student in any discipline, adding it really has prepared her to be a better leader.

"If you're not so sure about what you want to do in your life, struggling to be a good student, have high hopes and big dreams or if you just want to have an excellent experience, then this program is for you," Alsoofy said. "It really changed my focus and made be a better student and is preparing me to be a good leader and productive member of society."

managingeditor@lanthorn.com

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