Global Leadership Academy
The Clark Atlanta University Global Leadership Academy will be an interdisciplinary collaboration to broaden the range of student competencies, offer exposure to global commerce and promote entrepreneurship. High potential students from Business, CIS, Educational Leadership, Mass Media, Music and Theater, Political Science and Social Work will comprise a residential learning community to provide robust peer support and increase student achievement. The instructional program will forge experiential learning linkages with a broad spectrum of businesses and institutions from local entrepreneurs to multi-national corporations. The alignment of university faculty, staff, students, alumni, corporate and community stakeholders will focus their collective efforts to develop knowledgeable, effective and ethical citizens of the world community of commerce.
What is a Residential Learning Community?
A learning community is a group of students who take a common set of courses together or share a common experience around their academics. Participants develop a deeper understanding of academic subject matter while they build relationships and learn together outside of the classroom. In residentially-based learning communities, participating students not only take courses in common but also live in either the same residence hall or the same residential area of campus. Copyright © 2010 Ohio University
Purpose
The Global Leadership Academy aligns with the Clark Atlanta University Strategic goal of attracting and retaining a multicultural and international pool of talented learners. Involvement is important to student education. Often for students, social and academic concerns compete; causing students difficulty in decision-making when choosing between the two worlds. The supportive peer learning community of the GLA is designed as a comprehensive program to help students draw these two worlds together. Through seminars, group projects, class discussions, and self-evaluation reports, the program will foster the development of peer support groups to help students find balance amid the competing demands of the academic and social development dimensions of attending college. The groups will take shape within the classroom and extend into the living space to support students and help to positively reinforce their desire to continue college. Learning communities have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to increase students’ involvement in their learning activities while significantly improving student retention when compared to students in a traditional curriculum.
The Global Leadership Academy (GLA) residential learning community will be designed to initially serve 200-300 undergraduate students. The GLA will admit high potential students who will pursue their studies in a small residential learning community and incorporate work and/or study abroad opportunities into their college career plan. Coordinated co-curricular activities will foster the development of mastery in leadership and professional skills, critical thinking, personal ethics, and the ability to work with and lead teams.
Rationale
The focus of the Global Leadership Academy is driven by the belief among many Clark Atlanta University (CAU) faculty and administrators that there is a substantial population of CAU undergraduates whose academic success and ultimate retention can be significantly enhanced by a residential, interdisciplinary, outcomes-based academic experience emphasizing extensive mentoring and peer support augmented with work or study experiences abroad. GLA features an interdisciplinary curriculum and co-curricular activities that encourage students and faculty from all majors and departments to connect theory and practice through an emphasis on experiential learning and multicultural experiences. Unlike an honors program that serves only exceptional students, or a remedial program that addresses significant deficiencies, the Global Leadership Academy seeks to address the needs of a broader, core portion of the CAU student body, many of whom are the first in their families to ever attend college.
The Clark Atlanta University Global Leadership Academy will be an interdisciplinary collaboration to broaden the range of student competencies, offer exposure to global commerce and promote entrepreneurship. High potential students from Business, CIS, Educational Leadership, Mass Media, Music and Theater, Political Science and Social Work will comprise a residential learning community to provide robust peer support and increase student achievement. The instructional program will forge experiential learning linkages with a broad spectrum of businesses and institutions from local entrepreneurs to multi-national corporations. The alignment of university faculty, staff, students, alumni, corporate and community stakeholders will focus their collective efforts to develop knowledgeable, effective and ethical citizens of the world community of commerce.
What is a Residential Learning Community?
A learning community is a group of students who take a common set of courses together or share a common experience around their academics. Participants develop a deeper understanding of academic subject matter while they build relationships and learn together outside of the classroom. In residentially-based learning communities, participating students not only take courses in common but also live in either the same residence hall or the same residential area of campus. Copyright © 2010 Ohio University
Purpose
The Global Leadership Academy aligns with the Clark Atlanta University Strategic goal of attracting and retaining a multicultural and international pool of talented learners. Involvement is important to student education. Often for students, social and academic concerns compete; causing students difficulty in decision-making when choosing between the two worlds. The supportive peer learning community of the GLA is designed as a comprehensive program to help students draw these two worlds together. Through seminars, group projects, class discussions, and self-evaluation reports, the program will foster the development of peer support groups to help students find balance amid the competing demands of the academic and social development dimensions of attending college. The groups will take shape within the classroom and extend into the living space to support students and help to positively reinforce their desire to continue college. Learning communities have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to increase students’ involvement in their learning activities while significantly improving student retention when compared to students in a traditional curriculum.
The Global Leadership Academy (GLA) residential learning community will be designed to initially serve 200-300 undergraduate students. The GLA will admit high potential students who will pursue their studies in a small residential learning community and incorporate work and/or study abroad opportunities into their college career plan. Coordinated co-curricular activities will foster the development of mastery in leadership and professional skills, critical thinking, personal ethics, and the ability to work with and lead teams.
Rationale
The focus of the Global Leadership Academy is driven by the belief among many Clark Atlanta University (CAU) faculty and administrators that there is a substantial population of CAU undergraduates whose academic success and ultimate retention can be significantly enhanced by a residential, interdisciplinary, outcomes-based academic experience emphasizing extensive mentoring and peer support augmented with work or study experiences abroad. GLA features an interdisciplinary curriculum and co-curricular activities that encourage students and faculty from all majors and departments to connect theory and practice through an emphasis on experiential learning and multicultural experiences. Unlike an honors program that serves only exceptional students, or a remedial program that addresses significant deficiencies, the Global Leadership Academy seeks to address the needs of a broader, core portion of the CAU student body, many of whom are the first in their families to ever attend college.
