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Community Involvement Leadership Academy added to Center’s educational programs; latest catalog released
By Tim Wilson, Editor & Writer, Boston College Center
New Academy combines on-campus instruction with distance learning
The best and the brightest in any field are not accomplished because they’ve learned it all. What makes them stand out as leaders is a desire to keep learning.
In that spirit, the Boston College Center has created the innovative Community Involvement Leadership Academy scheduled to launch this fall. Designed for the most seasoned veterans of corporate community involvement, the Academy combines an intensive on-campus program with a four-month distance learning program. In both the on-campus and off-campus portions, participants will learn through instruction by experienced adjunct faculty and guest speaker practitioners, as well as by sharing experiences with fellow community involvement leaders attending the Academy.
The Academy is being launched at a time when globalization, economic policy and changing demographics – among other issues – are changing the relative roles of business, government and civil society. More is expected and required of business and, as a result, the bar for community involvement continues to rise. Reflecting the words of President Kennedy that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,” the Community Involvement Leadership Academy will help even the most experienced professionals meet this new challenge.
Center Managing Director Peggy Connolly describes the Academy as “a first-of-its-kind learning program. Participants will have an unprecedented opportunity to draw on the experiences and knowledge of faculty, researchers and peers to advance themselves, their companies and the field.”
The inaugural session of the Academy will be held at the Lynch Center in the heart of the Boston College Carroll School of Management. The four-and-a-half-day on-campus portion of the Academy will draw on recent Center research focused on leadership competencies for community involvement managers. This research has examined what attributes are required to excel as a community involvement leader. The On-Campus Academy, scheduled Nov. 8-12, 2010, will equip participants with tools, skills and strategies to help them take their leadership and influence – as well as community involvement in their companies – to the next level.
Upon completion of the On-Campus Academy, participants who want to earn a Certificate in Community Involvement Leadership from the Carroll School of Management must enter the Off-Campus Academy, a four-month distance learning program focused on real-world application of the new skills and strategies learned in the classroom here at Boston College.
But graduates of the On-Campus Academy will not be on their own when they leave campus. The input they receive from adjunct faculty members on campus will continue throughout the Off-Campus Academy, with each participant getting two hours of individualized instruction per month. An assigned adjunct faculty member will serve as sounding board for participants as they implement change at their companies and experiment with new practices learned through the Academy.
The peer learning that began on campus will also continue as part of the distance learning program. Off-Campus Academy participants will each be assigned to a 4-to-5 person team that will convene three times via teleconference to share experiences and collaborate on solutions to challenges. In addition, online networking via the Center’s Member Community will provide access to fellow community involvement leaders on a day-to-day basis. In order to effectively record application of new learning and practices and examine their outcome, Academy participants will be given an easy to use model for developing case examples of their leadership in action.
At the Center’s annual International Corporate Citizenship Conference in Minneapolis, April, 10, 2011, Academy graduates will share their experiences and receive a final round of feedback at a one-day leaders summit. Recipients of the Certificate in Community Involvement Leadership will be invited to the conference as guests of honor, with the registration fee waived, a savings of approximately $1,500.
Limited to 16 participants, enrollment in the on-campus and off-campus segments of the Community Involvement Leadership Academy is by application. To be eligible for acceptance, applicants must have at least five years experience in corporate community involvement, demonstrated expertise and sufficient scope of responsibility; or, have a Certificate in Community Involvement Management from Boston College and at least three years experience in community involvement. Click here for more information on the Academy, or contact Karen O’Malley at karen.omalley.2@bc.edu, 617-552-1553.
The Community Involvement Leadership Academy is just one of the programs featured in the Center’s newest catalog of management programs, which features a new mix of learning programs to better meet different learning styles and to increase accessibility to learning opportunities, from 2-1/2-day management development programs to an increasing array of one-day workshops and timely Webinars. Click here to download the complete catalog.
