Mission, Vision & Values
Our Mission
The mission of the Weppner Center for LEAD and Service-Learning is to empower students' pursuit of their own developmental growth by cultivating lifelong leadership skills and engaging in experiential service learning to become more effective citizens in their community.
Our Vision
We are a Center that engages leaders of all kinds to become change agents.
Our Values
The "Seven C's" of the Social Change Model of Leadership Development
- Consciousness of Self: Awareness of the beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions that motivate one to take action.
- Congruence: Thinking, feeling, and behaving with consistency, genuineness, authenticity, and honesty.
- Commitment: Motivational energy to serve and that drives the collective effort. Commitment implies passion, intensity, and duration.
- Collaboration: Working with others in a common effort. It constitutes the cornerstone value of the group leadership effort because it empowers self and others through trust.
- Common Purpose: Working with shared aims and values. It facilitates the group’s ability to engage in collective analysis of the issues at hand and the task to be undertaken.
- Controversy with Civility: Recognizes two fundamental realities of any creative group effort: that differences in viewpoint are inevitable, and that such difference must be aired openly but with civility.
- Citizenship: Process whereby the individual and the collaborative group become responsibly connected to the community and the society through the leadership experience.
Our Guiding Principles
- All students (not just those that hold formal leadership positions) are leaders
- Leadership is a process rather than a position
- Leadership is collaborative
- Leadership is concerned with effecting change on behalf of others and society
- Leadership should be value-based
- Service is a powerful vehicle for developing students’ leadership skills