Initiative
University of South Carolina / Leadership Magazine / 2014
In this issue 3 Good scholars, good leaders, good employees 4
Leadership in the face of fear
8
Finding the SPARK
12 Reading, writing, leadership 14 Stoking the fires 16 USC Connect distinguishes leaders, itself 17 53 ways to become a leader 18 Peer Leaders 22 Leading by example 24 New endowment to promote pharmacy student leadership 27 Everyone’s a leader 28 Making the most of college 30 The verdict is in 32 Ready, set, CreateAThon! 34 Stars and stripes 38 Finding a place to fit in 40 Minor in leadership, major opportunities
Initiative
University of South Carolina’s Leadership Magazine 2014 Harris Pastides, President Dennis A. Pruitt, Vice President, for Student Affairs, Vice Provost and Dean of Students Kirk Randazzo, Director, Carolina Leadership Initiative Wes Hickman, Director of Communications and Marketing/Chief Communications Officer Creative/Production: University Writers Group University Creative Services
The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, or veteran status. 12390 UCS 5/14
From the director’s chair Welcome to the inaugural issue of Initiative, a magazine dedicated to showcasing the leadership of individuals at the University of South Carolina. As director of the Carolina Leadership Initiative, I have the privilege of working with all of these talented men and women and promoting their programs and projects. While it is truly an honor to be associated with these great ideas, there remains an important question that often goes unaddressed: why? Of all the things that USC could focus on, why leadership? One answer to this question is because no one else is. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review (December 12, 2012) by Jack Zenger indicates that the average individual in the corporate world receives his/her first comprehensive leadership training at age 42. Additionally, the same person typically gets promoted into a
managerial or supervisory position around age 30 and spends approximately 10 years leading others without any formal training. Since corporate America is not investing in leadership training until individuals demonstrate they are ‘leaders’, it becomes vitally important to gain these skills prior to employment. Consequently, the more leadership training that individuals can acquire on their own, the more successful they should be in finding ideal jobs and gaining promotions in those jobs. At a basic level, this training allows individuals to demonstrate that they 1) have the ability necessary to develop a vision; 2) have the skills necessary to communicate this vision accurately and convince others to join; and 3) can design an effective strategy to set goals that effectively implement this vision. Moreover, leadership training provides individuals with the skills necessary to interact with people and understand organizational dynamics — skills that are vitally important in every profession. A second, and perhaps more important, answer to this question is that focusing on leadership is the right thing to do, especially at a state flagship institution like the University of South Carolina. Leadership is one of the few aspects that intersects and interacts with every discipline. Yet, while some of the core skills or strategies are common across disciplines, the specific practice
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of leadership is extremely dependent on context and situation. There is no scientific formula that one can replicate to achieve the ‘leadership answer’. Similarly, there is no mathematical equation that when added together equals ‘leadership’. Instead, leadership is more equivalent to an art, and just like art one can use the same ingredients or materials and apply them with different shadings, textures, or perspectives to achieve completely different outcomes. Additionally, leadership is similar to art or music because anyone can do it. Yes, there will always be individuals, such as the artist Picasso or the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, who possess an intrinsic talent for their craft. But anyone can paint, draw, play music, sing, etc. All it takes to become better is some education/training and practice. This is why a magazine like Initiative is so important. Take a look at the individuals and programs showcased in this issue. While there are some common qualities that we can identify throughout each example, every description and essay highlights different aspects of leadership. Collectively, they
demonstrate how leadership adapts to context or situation. Furthermore, the individuals included in this issue represent men and women who are at different stages of their leadership journey, but who constantly strive to be better leaders tomorrow than they are today. They are committed to making a positive difference in their corners of the world and their accomplishments are truly remarkable. They recognize that leadership is not about a position or a title. Rather, it is about the person and how he/she affects others. Why focus on leadership? Because without leaders groups and organizations have difficulty maintaining momentum and achieving goals. Because the skills needed to become more effective leaders can be used to develop more meaningful relationships with other people. Because a better understanding of leadership and its many different dynamics and situations may make any person more competitive when searching for that ideal job. Because leadership offers everyone an opportunity to make a positive difference in his/her corner of the world.
Kirk Randazzo Director, Carolina Leadership Initiative
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
By Dennis Pruitt
Good scholars, good leaders, good employees In 1976, 68 percent of first-year Carolina students reported that a primary reason for attending college was to be able to get a better job. By 2012 that number had climbed to 88 percent. We’ve seen a similar trend among students’ parents, who are even more concerned about the return on investment in their children’s college education. Even the federal government might tie aid to a university’s job-placement success of its graduates. And employers are demanding better work readiness from college graduates. Some might decry this change, but I see opportunity for our university and benefits for our students by adding to our liberal arts mission the purpose of cultivating lifelong learners with employability and life management skills. The National Association of Colleges and Employers has found that prospective employers want new hires to have problem-solving, communication and
analytical skills as well as demonstrate leadership qualities and the ability to work in a team. Each of those attributes is fostered by our beyond-the-classroom educational experiences, from peer leadership to study abroad and undergraduate research. They’re the traits exhibited by our students supported by the Carolina Leadership Initiative. And they’re the skills enhanced by USC Connect, which guides students to integrate their experiences. At the University of South Carolina, there is unprecedented opportunity for students to learn concepts in their courses and apply them outside the classroom walls. By re-centering the college curriculum and integrating the in- and beyond-the-classroom education, we can preserve the traditional curriculum and enhance it with benefits that come from participatory learning. We can create good scholars, good leaders, good employees and good citizens. We can offer a top-rate experience in this new higher education landscape and be leaders in advancing our citizens’ opportunities for success.
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Photo by Ambyr Goff, Class of ’17
Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
Leadership in the face of fear This year’s Presidential Leadership Dialogue featured, Diane Nash a diminutive woman who had a big impact during the Civil Rights Era.
By Page Ivey
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Diane Nash was leading a peaceful student protest of racial segregation during the 1960s when she heard some men in the crowd threaten her. She knew she would get no help from police, and the students with her were just as scared as she was. “I decided to give myself 15 minutes, and at the end of that 15 minutes, either I would have gotten the fear under control, or I was going to call off the demonstration and go back to the church and resign,” she said. Fifty years later, Nash has a lifetime of social activism to look back on, not because she never was afraid but because she didn’t let that fear stop her. She shared her experiences at the 2014 President’s Leadership Dialogue at the University of South Carolina. The goal of the dialogue is “to inspire and prepare all of our students to make a positive difference,” said USC President Harris Pastides said. “The President’s Leadership Dialogue, now in its third year, exposes our students to remarkable individuals who found the courage to lead during extraordinary times.”
Right place, right time
A student at a black university in Tennessee during the early 1960s, Nash could not bear the strictures of segregation and knew things would never change unless the students stopped accepting it. “Oppression always requires the cooperation of the oppressed,” Nash said. “If the oppressed withdraw their cooperation from an oppressive system, that system will fall. “Understanding this principle will save you a lot of time in arguing and trying to change other people. Because the only person you can change is yourself.” Small in stature and soft-spoken, Nash said no one would have ever thought she would be a “great leader.” The key, she said, was never giving up even when she was afraid, when she was tired or when others were telling her to stop, including an administrator at Fisk University in Nashville, where Nash went to school. Nash refused to stop. “And she said she would put me out of school if I didn’t. Well, I was in a good position because I had been on the cover of Jet magazine. I told her if she did, I would stop at Jet
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magazine in Chicago and tell them on my way home.” Pastides said Nash’s story, in particular, should resonate with students. “She was the same age as most of our students when she participated in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, protested in Rock Hill (S.C.) and coordinated the Freedom Rides through Alabama,” he said. “Even though she was young, she understood the power and strength of leadership and conviction. “I hope our students understand that leaders come in all ages, sizes, genders and ethnicities.” Leadership with distinction Nash’s visit was part of the university’s commemoration of its 50th anniversary of desegregation. During the year, USC honored the three students, Henrie Monteith Treadwell, James Solomon and the late Robert Anderson who were the first black students since Reconstruction to enroll at Carolina. Pastides said the university has a role in continuing to make sure that a college education is accessible and affordable for all South Carolinians. “We also need to ensure that we provide the tools necessary to create thoughtful, innovative and globally minded leaders,” he said.
In May 2014, the university celebrated its first class of students graduating with leadership distinction. To graduate with leadership distinction, a student must complete one of four “pathways,” each with different core requirements such as community service, peer leadership, internships, a study-away semester or two semesters of extensive research. Students also must complete additional course work and activities related to their area of distinction as well as presentations or publications highlighting their research. Gaining such skills gives young leaders confidence, even when they know the repercussions might be harsh for taking a stand, Nash said. She recounted how blacks who tried to vote in small Southern towns during the 1960s would come home and find they had “no place to live and no job.” “And they knew that would happen because it had happened so many times before, but they would go anyway,” she said. “People know my name because I was a chairman and a national coordinator. But there are many, many thousands of people who made huge sacrifices whose names we will never know.”
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Music Music spark spark
Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
Finding the SPARK Carolina’s Music Leadership Laboratory is fostering a culture of thinking outside the box for budding musicians. By Chris Horn
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If
Elizabeth Gergel had been a music major years ago, she would have done what music students have always done: practiced endless hours and graduated with a music performance degree. She’s still doing that — the endless practicing thing with her cello — but she’s enrolled in the nation’s first music school to hire a music entrepreneurship faculty member and the first to offer a minor in music entrepreneurship. As a result, Gergel is becoming not only an accomplished cellist but is also developing the savvy to make a living with her talent and become a leader in the music world. “We want our students to be successful,” said David Cutler, associate professor and director of music entrepreneurship for the USC’s School of Music. “Music schools have traditionally excelled at creating very good musicians, but we also want to cultivate students who not only can find work but who can create new opportunities for artists and for the community to experience the arts.” Gergel has taken several courses as a music entrepreneurship minor that have stretched her vision for what she might do with a music degree. “It’s not like it’s put me on a different
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career path, but it’s given me a larger perspective,” she said. “Prof. Cutler talks about having a portfolio career — he encourages us to be our own bosses and create our own jobs rather than focusing solely on traditional jobs for music majors.” To that end, Cutler has pushed students in his music entrepreneurship classes to come up with creative projects for presenting performing arts to the community. Some of the demonstration projects prove to be viable business models. “We do a lot of experiential learning,” Cutler said. “When you’re on a team, leadership is important, and you can lead from every position on the team.” Ultimately, students learn that musical talent by itself is not always enough to succeed — but combined with innovative ideas and savvy business sense, they can forge careers in new ways, outside of the traditional bounds of music careers. Rebecca Nagel, the music school’s assistant dean and a professor of oboe, is director of SPARK, the music leadership laboratory. She explores new ways for music students to engage with their communities and has led new
initiatives at the V.A. Hospital and its Community Living Center, the Richland County Public Library and A.C. Moore Elementary School, among others. Going beyond simply performing, these experiences help students develop skills ranging from public speaking to grant writing and connect young musicians to people of all ages and walks of life. The school’s music career week helps students explore the potential and challenges of more than 30 career paths available to musicians. And a summer experiential workshop, “The Savvy Musician in Action,” attracts students from across the country. “SPARK is all about tapping into the creativity and imagination of our students and faculty,” said Tayloe Harding, dean of the music school. “Music entrepreneurship is a big part of that, but there is also a community engagement component and a musical advocacy component. “We’re teaching our students how to make a case for music to their neighbors and to political leaders. It’s incredibly important to know how to rally support for music so that others, not just musicians, become champions for its value in community life.”
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
By Page Ivey
Reading, writing, leadership Improving students’ reading, writing and presentation skills is quite simple: Assign them 20-40 pages of material to read every week and another 20-30 pages to write per semester, and they will get better at it. “Frankly, it really doesn’t matter so much what they are reading and writing about,” says USC business professor Brad Stratton. “It could be leadership, it could be ethics, it could be anything related to business as long as they’re reading and writing about it.” Stratton used a Carolina Leadership Initiative teaching grant to inject leadership into his communication class. “I didn’t go in and completely change the course,” Stratton says. “I just changed the types of readings. Instead of having them read about something else, we would have them read about leadership.” Students in the class say the focus on leadership will help them as they continue their studies in business and as they go out looking for internships and jobs. “I have been able to use these leadership skills in group projects, my internship and even with my peers,”
says Brittany Carden, a junior management and marketing major from Manasquan, N.J. “The more I learn about myself, the better I can be.” Stratton says he had students start the course by doing a leadership inventory to determine what their leadership style is, their strengths and weaknesses. They wrote a short paper about it and had to find a book about leadership that would address one of their deficiencies. “Mr. Stratton gave us down-to-earth tips on how to be a leader. He stressed that we should just be ourselves,” said Samia Anderson, a sophomore accounting major from Charleston. “He gave us tips on improving our skills and simply serving as a ‘messenger’ when making speeches, but was not aiming to change us. I appreciated that aspect of this course.” Stratton says he has been pleased so far by students’ enthusiasm in class and thinks this pilot program could be expanded to other topics. “There’s really no reason that we couldn’t do other custom type courses, such as a business communication course on service learning or on ethics in business,” he says.
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Stoking the fires Sophomore stoking the fires of her own entrepreneurial spirit By Megan Sexton
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
Ever since she was a high school sophomore Ann-Marie Nunziata knew she wanted to be at the University of South Carolina. Now 19 and a second-year marketing and management major, Nunziata says she cannot see herself anywhere else. “It’s about finding what’s best for you,” says the Charlotte, N.C., native who turned down scholarship offers from UNC, N.C. State and elsewhere in favor of the South Carolina Honors College. “I have had the opportunity here to get involved in the things I love.” Nunziata loves practical business know-how and the entrepreneurial spirit. To foster these interests, she works at the USC Columbia Technology Incubator and leads the student-run business consulting firm Propensity. She was named a 2013-14 Leadership Scholar and received a leadership grant of nearly $7,000 to further the goals of Propensity, which is operated by the members of the Kappa Alpha Psi business fraternity. “It’s free of charge to businesses,” Nunziata says. “We work directly with them to help further their goals while also furthering our education. I got on a team last year and ended up taking over the program this year.”
Nunziata says she also hopes to help students make connections in the local business community so they can stay in Columbia after graduation and find those entrepreneurial opportunities she and her classmates are craving. “There’s just so much more thrill in working for startup companies,” she says. “No two days are ever the same, and you’re always working on cool different things.” Nunziata thinks her work at the Technology Incubator will put her on the path to being an entrepreneur. The USC Columbia Technology Incubator recruits technology startups with the goal of having them become successful businesses and create jobs in the local economy. The incubator also provides opportunities for USC faculty, staff and students to commercialize their ideas. Laura Corder, director of operations and communications at the Technology Incubator, says Nunziata is a natural leader and feels more like a co-worker than an unpaid student intern. “I do not tell her what to do. She takes great initiative,” Corder says. Nunziata helps keep companies inside the Technology Incubator informed of what is going on with an intranet-type blog and through social media. “She comes up with all her different blog and story ideas,” Corder says. “She has great ideas and just loves being a part of what we’re doing here.”
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Student/ Faculty & Staff / Program
USC Connect distinguishes leaders, itself Undergraduates wanting to demonstrate leadership skills to prospective employers or to graduate school admissions committees can soon do so through the new Graduation with Leadership Distinction (GLD) pioneered by USC Connect in collaboration with the Carolina Leadership Initiative. The distinction, which began appearing on transcripts in 2014, recognizes those who have shown leadership in and beyond the classroom in one of four USC Connect pathways — community service, global learning, professional and civic engagement or research — and is open to students seeking bachelor’s or associate’s degrees at the Columbia or regional campuses. “We’re preparing students to be leaders — people who are knowledgeable about their fields and who can apply what they have learned to new contexts,” says Irma Van Scoy, executive director of USC Connect. “The Graduation with Leadership Distinction, which is open to all students, was built to be consistent with that.” Interested students must maintain a 3.0 GPA, complete appropriate coursework and fulfill “core experience” requirements related to a specific pathway (for example, 300 hours of community service). But while attaining the GLD requires focus and dedication, leadership distinction itself is broadly defined. “We’re not only talking about leadership in terms of government or business,” Van Scoy says. “We have a broad definition of leadership. It could be leadership in a field such as geography or mathematics. Making a difference in any area requires leadership.”
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53
Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
ways to become a leader Every year USC undergraduates have at least 53 options for honing their leadership abilities — that’s how many peer leadership groups are on campus. Thanks to the Office of Student Engagement’s coordination of the Peer Leadership Advisors/Supervisors Network (PLAN), all of those groups — which include U101 peer leaders, supplemental instruction leaders, and alternative fall and spring break leaders — are collaborating more frequently, said Jimmie Gahagan, director of student engagement. At Carolina, peer leaders are defined as students who have been “selected and trained to deliver an educational service to their peers.” “Through the PLAN network, we’ve developed metrics on the experiences of being a peer leader and have found that peer leadership opportunities have definitely strengthened students’ connection to the university and their perception of their own leadership abilities,” Gahagan said. “In particular, their ability to handle diverse situations and people and their oral communication skills increase dramatically.”
Gahagan’s office has also confirmed that students who serve as peer leaders tend to persist in their studies and become fully engaged academically and socially. “They become fully invested in their college careers,” he said. In recent years, the Office of Student Engagement has partnered with many units across the university to encourage organizations to become much more intentional about defining the desired outcomes for students who participate in leadership opportunities. “We want to encourage units that work with peer leaders to focus on helping students process their experiences, reflect on them and then integrate them with what they’re learning in the classroom,” Gahagan said. “Ultimately, that’s one of the ways we can improve on our students’ employability.” Looking ahead, Gahagan wants the university to continue to expand the range and reach of peer leader experiences to a broader swath of the student body. “The role of peer leaders is going to be even more important in the future, but we need to get a broader and more diverse group of students who are recruited into these roles,” Gahagan said. “And we’ve got to think about how peer leadership can blend with technology in an online learning environment.”
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
Peer leaders By Maegan Gudridge
At Carolina, peer leaders are undergraduate students who have been selected and trained to offer educational services to their peers.
There are more than 1,000 of these studenteducators in more than 53 groups that address academics, diversity, health and wellness, residence life and other areas. And it turns out that they get just as much as they give. Not only do peer leaders help students pull up grades, navigate complicated decisions and manage tricky situations, but peer leaders themselves report gaining skills and experience that enrich their time at Carolina and enhance their appeal to employers.
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Peer leadership groups and programs
1,000
Peer leaders
Gender
77% female
23% male
Class standing 2.69% 30.77% 37.31% 26.54% 2.69%
freshman sophomore junior senior fifth year
sophomore junior
senior
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Compensation 49% paid/stipend 26% course credit 17% reduction in housing costs 34% no compensation 5% other
Benefits • i ncreased knowledge of university services • i ncreased interaction with faculty • i ncreased confidence interacting with faculty •m ore comfortable speaking in front of groups • f eel comfortable guiding others in their decision-making • f eel comfortable guiding others in times of difficulty • f eel comfortable taking leadership role in a group •a llowed to interact with diverse group of students
Residency 52% in-state 46% out-of-state 2% international
Housing
• i mproved oral communication skills • s upported academic success.
40% on-campus
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60% off-campus
Leadership opportunities for undergraduates Academic Tutors
Magellan Scholar Research Program
Active Minds mental health peer educators
Minority Assistance Peer Program (MAPP)
Admissions Telecounselors
Counselors
Athletic Tutors and Mentors
Opportunity Scholars Program Mentors
Capstone Ambassadors
Orientation Leaders
Career Center Peers
Out-of-State Student Mentors
Carolina Institute for Leadership
Outstanding Women at USC Celebration
and Engagement in Music
and Awards
Carolina Judicial Council
Peer Health Educators
Carolina Leadership Initiative
Pi Chi Sorority Recruitment Counselors
Carolina Productions programming board
Pillars Extended Orientation Leaders
Carolina Service Council and interns
Residence Hall Association (RHA)
Catalyst leadership workshop
Executive board
Center for Nursing Leadership
Resident Mentors
Challenge Course
ROTC Leadership Training
Changing Carolina Peer Leaders
Service Leadership Institute
CHAMPS/Life Skills Program
South Carolina Semester
Community Internship Program
Student Government
Community Service Programs
Student Leadership and Diversity Conference
Cross-College Advisors
Student Leadership in the Workplace initiative
DEAL (Drop Everything and Lead) Retreat
Student Media
EcoReps
Student Organizations
Emerging Leaders Program
Student Success Center Call Center Staff
EMPOWER Diversity Peer Educators
Study Abroad
Financial Literacy Peers
Substance Abuse Prevention and
Fraternity and Sorority Life
Education Peers
Interfaith Leadership Program
Supplemental Instruction Leaders
LEAD (Leadership Enrichment
Sustainable Carolina
and Development) Retreat Leaders Engaging Across Perspectives (LEAP)
TOAST (The Outstanding Achievement and Student Triumph) Breakfast
Leadership and Service Awards
Transfer Student Mentors
Leadership minor
University 101 Peer Leaders
Leadership Resource Center
University Ambassadors
Leadership Scholars
USC Connect
Leadership Team
Washington Semester
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
Leading by example By Megan Sexton
Students learn leadership from historic figures
H
istory professor Lauren Sklaroff is using the Carolina Leadership Initiative to bring a new approach to her teaching. “In the business school, they use historic figures as leadership models, which is something I’ve talked about much less explicitly in the classroom,” Sklaroff says. “I think my students can benefit from understanding history through this framework, especially as they attempt to translate historical thinking to the careers they will pursue after they graduate.” Leadership had always been a part of her curriculum, even if it wasn’t explicit. Over the past two years, two
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CLI teaching grants have brought together Sklaroff and her colleagues from marketing, medicine and social work. They talk about leadership philosophy and how it would best be manifested in diverse classroom experiences. Sklaroff learned about leadership philosophy for the first time in working with her fellow CLI grantees. She recognized that her own teaching and research were very much in line with it. “Collective negotiation — that’s what I’ve always written about,” Sklaroff says. “That’s what my first book was all about. I wouldn’t have called it leadership at the time, but
now that I look back on it, I think it was about leadership.” Her first teaching grant helped Sklaroff develop the curriculum for a new course on American Jewish history for fall 2013. The subjects ranged from Francis Salvador, the first American Jew to perish in the American Revolution, to Hank Greenberg, a Hall-of-Fame slugger who debuted in the major leagues in 1930. Her 10-student senior seminar has looked carefully at beliefs, which she says have profound impacts on how organizations form, how hierarchies of leaders and followers develop, and how people respond to different forms
of leadership. “Talking about what makes people follow other people, based on belief principles, has helped my students frame their topics and carry out their research,” she says. “I’ve gotten some fantastic papers from them.” She’s using the second teaching grant to enhance large survey courses on American history. The classes will incorporate leadership philosophy beginning in fall 2014. “In historical models, really good leaders inspired other people to have their own ideas and to collectively organize,” she says. “And with our students that’s what we’re talking about. “
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
By Jeff Stensland
New endowment to promote pharmacy student leadership Students in the S.C. College of Pharmacy look forward to becoming leaders in health care when they graduate. Now they can get a head start, thanks to the establishment of the Walker Pharmacy Leadership Scholarship Endowment, which will identify, educate and recognize top pharmacy student leaders at the University of South Carolina. The fund, endowed by Donna J. Walker, a 1979 USC pharmacy graduate, who followed in the footsteps of her father Tony Walker, who earned a pharmacy degree there in 1957. “The Walker Pharmacy Leadership Scholars Endowment will actively promote development of leaders in pharmacy,” said Walker, who is president of Pulido Walker Foundation. “Our hope is that these students will make substantive contributions during their pharmacy careers through exceptional leadership in business, health policy, and advocacy.”
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Funds from the Walker endowment can be used for scholarship support, academic and leadership development, career development, experiential learning, travel and other curricular and experiential components. “The gift enables us to develop a leadership initiative that will be a significant benefit to our students and our profession.” “The gift enables us to develop a leadership initiative that will be a significant benefit to our students and our profession,” said Joseph T. DiPiro, executive dean of the S.C. College of Pharmacy. “The Walker endowment fund will provide our students with the resources they need to develop and refine leadership skills that will be critically important to their own successful careers. Donna is an excellent role model for that.” The goals for the program include promoting a vision for leadership development for pharmacy students on the USC campus and catalyzing the creation of new projects on campus related to leadership. “While a student at Carolina, the leadership opportunities that I had gave me the chance to develop communication, teamwork, planning, and problem solving skills that became a foundation for my success in the corporate world,” said
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Walker, a Columbia, S.C., native and current resident of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. “From serving in student government and my pharmacy professional society to leading a consortium as a graduate assistant, every experience provided a chance to improve my skills. The more I got involved, the more doors that opened. “I would like to ensure other pharmacy students have the opportunity to develop their own skills and encourage them to be leaders in our profession.” Walker’s husband, Mark Pulido, is also a pharmacist. Together they started the Pulido Walker Foundation, which is a family foundation with a focus on youth development. Prior to that, she worked first with her father as a pharmacist at Cedar Terrace Pharmacy in Columbia, S.C., and then moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the American Pharmaceutical Association, the national professional society for pharmacists. After receiving her MBA from USC, she joined 3M Pharmaceuticals in Minneapolis, Minn., and held positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing, and international management within the pharmaceutical division. Later in her career, she was the North American sales and marketing director for the 3M Telecom Division.
Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
‘Everyone’s a leader’ By Megan Sexton
Leadership coach steers students to myriad opportunities You don’t have to be an elected official or a CEO to be a leader. You don’t have to be an officer or a manager, either. You just have to make good, ethical decisions and be a team player. That’s the broadminded philosophy behind the efforts of USC leadership coach Coleman Carlisle, who coordinates the Emerging Leaders Program, Catalyst and LEAD Retreat for USC’s Department of Student Life. “There are sometimes some preconceived notions of what leadership is,” says Carlisle, who sharpened his own leadership skills as a lawyer before coming to USC. “In our office we try to break down those barriers and help students get past this idea that you have to be president of something, or you have to run for office to be a leader. “We try to get past the idea of leadership as positional. One of the mottos in my office is ‘everyone’s a leader.’”
Through the Department of Student Life, students seeking to develop their leadership skills are paired with opportunities on campus that suit their specific interests and are appropriate to where they are in their academic career. Freshmen, for example, might be encouraged to enter the office’s Emerging Leader Program, where they can begin to discover their own leadership style. Others are encouraged to participate in student government, to check out particular campus organizations or to explore the possibility of becoming a University 101 peer leader. “One great thing here is everybody on campus really tries to push each other’s programs,” Carlisle says. “Somebody may come to me but it turns out that person would be better off working in community service than participating in one of our programs. We really want to match people up with the opportunity that’s best for them.”
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Student / Faculty & Staff / Program
Making the most of college By Jeff Stensland
One attribute of true leadership, experts say, is having the confidence to break away from life’s conventional, easy paths. Coy Gibson, a senior political science major at USC, wouldn’t have it any other way. While many students drift through college, Gibson decided early on to make the most of his experience. He says his exposure to USC’s Leadership Initiative in his sophomore year planted the seeds early for wanting do something different. He credits Kirk Randazzo’s leadership class for his successful run for Student Government treasurer in 2012. “You try to go into every class open-minded, but that class was different. I took so many notes that my hand ached,” he says. “We learned how to give speeches, how to organize groups, bring people together and make teams work. I still remember the ‘three Ds of Leadership—dynamic, different, dependable.’ These are things
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we learned that you can put into your daily life.” Those skills were especially useful during Gibson’s stint as a Capstone resident mentor during his sophomore and junior years. He spent many nights coaching, reassuring — and occasionally intervening — when college life seemed overwhelming to some of the 40 freshmen a year assigned to him. “Housing does a great job training our RMs, and you never know what you’re going encounter. You have to stand in front of all these freshmen and be able to have the confidence to explain what college is like and that you’re there for them during that transition. You’ll be able to respond if you have trust in your training,” he says. Fresh from spending the summer interning at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Gibson went to Brazil, where he learned Portuguese as part of a study abroad program. In Amsterdam, Gibson helped organize the
South Carolina leg of an international Anne Frank touring exhibit, which will make a stop at his high school alma mater in Kershaw County. “I’d never been out of the country before this year. My mother has never left the country; my father has only left once. They encouraged me to travel abroad, to experience the world in ways they had not,” he says. After his graduation in May 2014, he’s not sure what’s next, but is leaning toward a “gap year” spent traveling across the United States. “I think part of being a leader is knowing when it’s time to step up, and knowing when it’s time to take a break, step back and go learn something new,” he says. “People forget what’s in their own backyards. We tend to get caught in these loops, and when you get out of them, really cool things can happen.”
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The verdict is in mock trial is a valuable experience
By Steven Powell
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evon Thurman wants to strengthen USC’s connections to a program that she knows can transform people: mock trial. “I saw just how valuable mock trial had been in so many people’s lives,” she says of the year she served as president of the undergraduate mock trial program. “People went from not being able to stand in front of a class and introduce themselves to giving speeches and being prepared to handle job interviews. Those speech skills are not only going to serve them in mock trial, but in every aspect of their personal and professional lives.” With the support of the Carolina Leadership Initiative, Thurman, now a senior, created an outreach program for high school students, Future Trial Lawyers of America. The CLI provided funding to organize a workshop featuring Alicia Hawley, director of the national Mock Trial Academy. Ten high school students from South Carolina were awarded scholarships to attend two days of
sessions in fall 2012, learning the art of trial advocacy. Thurman selected the students to maximize USC’s reach. “We tried to have just one student from each high school,” she says. “That way, they could go back and spread the word about their experiences to as many schools as possible.” Her designation as a Leadership Scholar was invaluable to the endeavor, she said. Regular meetings with the small group of leadership scholars at the CLI uncovered potential shortcomings in planning. Addressing those concerns led to a successful workshop that was about more than helping students develop speaking skills. “I see it as a huge recruitment tool for the university,” she says. “We have students who love high school mock trial, and they get to meet members of the university’s mock trial team. If this is a school that they’re already thinking about, then they can start think about joining that family and easing that transition.”
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Ready, set, CreateAthon!
By Liz McCarthy
Teaching doesn’t have to happen in a lecture hall. At least, that was Karen Mallia’s approach to teaching creative leadership to students in the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. Last fall, with funds from a Carolina Leadership Initiative grant, Mallia launched CreateAthon@USC, a 24-hour creative blitz dedicated to helping S.C. nonprofits. In addition to doing strategic communications planning and management, students in her Creative Leadership course worked alongside student volunteers and professional mentors, and produced free advertising and marketing com-
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munications materials for six charities. “It’s more engaging for students,” says Mallia, an associate professor in advertising. “It frees them to learn in a way they can’t avoid. You can’t miss the lesson.” For Mallia, the blitz was a way to combine her research in creative leadership with her classroom. Often in creative fields, students are not taught “soft skills” essential to leadership. That has an impact on the professional field, which has its own set of issues facing leaders. “I’m trying to train leaders to develop the kinds of environments in which creativity can flourish,” she
says. “I can’t do it all in one semester, but we talk about all of it and how to problem solve.” CreateAthon is a national movement, representative of a growing trend in professional, skills-based public service. Incorporating the event into the course allowed students to study leadership theories and issues and then put them to work in a highstress environment. “If they had done communication strategy and creative work, it would just be a campaigns or MarCom management class. That’s a very different experience,” Mallia says. “They put their leadership learning to the test. There’s something really special
about the hyper intensity of a CreateAthon. It’s easy to take two weeks to do pro bono work, but it does not have the same challenge for creative people, which they’re going to meet in the industry.” In the end, Mallia says she can’t find the right adjective to describe the work her students and volunteers turned around in 24 hours. “I could have taught a creative leadership class without CreateAthon, but I think it’s incredibly powerful for both the creative component and for those who manage it because it’s so intense,” she says. “They have emerged with a sense of mastery as leaders that they might not otherwise have.”
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Stars and stripes “I joined the Army right after high school because I thought it would help me mature. It did. I had the opportunity to grow up and learn some things. Now I have the opportunity to bring that experience here to USC ... I don’t think I’d have that perspective if I didn’t do that.”
USC has been named one of the nation’s military-friendly universities for its recruitment and retention of students with military experience. Sgt. First Class William Paige By Megan Sexton
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Sgt. First Class William Paige walks among the other students on the University of South Carolina campus, knowing he is right where he belongs. After nine years as a full-time soldier, the 26-year-old Paige is now a full“I joined the Army right after high school because I thought it time student. After would help me mature. It did. I had the opportunity to grow up one deployment to and learn some things. Now I have the opportunity to bring that Iraq and two missions experience here to USC,” said Paige, a native of Detroit. “I don’t to Afghanistan, Paige is navigating the brick think I’d have that perspective if I didn’t do that.” walkways of the Carolina campus and finding his way to classroom buildings and the library. After three years as a drill instructor at Fort Jackson, he is now hunkering down with behavioral statistics and Spanish textbooks. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I joined the Army right after high school because I thought it would help me mature. It did. I had the opportunity to grow up and learn some things. Now I have the opportunity to bring that experience here to USC,” said Paige, a native of Detroit. “I don’t think I’d have that perspective if I didn’t do that.” Unlike the past few years when he balanced his work as a Fort Jackson drill sergeant with his college courses, Paige no longer has the responsibilities of his Army job as he works toward his bachelor’s degree in psychology. He is taking advantage of the military’s “Green to Gold” program, which allows him to continue earning his regular pay as a soldier while he takes a full load of classes on his way to earning his college degree. “It’s great how USC works to help the soldiers. I’ve taken classes on the Fort Jackson campus at night and
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at lunch time. If you’re a soldier and you can only come to class at night, that’s when they will have the class,” he said. “USC does everything it can to meet every need.” That support has earned USC a place on the 2013 Military Friendly Schools list. The award honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools — 1,739 institutions — that excel in the recruitment and retention of students with military experience. He expects to graduate from Carolina in May 2014, and will pursue his commission as a second lieutenant. He then plans to return to the Army full time, planning to spend at least 10 years as an officer. “Every time I walk around this campus I find some history. I’m glad I can get my education here and be part of USC’s history,” he said. “And maybe I’ll even make some history myself while I’m here.”
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Finding a place to fit in
By Megan Sexton
Mitchell Hammonds knew he had an interest in leadership while he was in high school in Greenville. But his leadership experiences at Carolina helped the senior visual communications major find his life calling. “I knew that coming into college I wanted to do more than just go to class and hang out with people,” he says. “I wanted to make a difference. I was ready to find a place to fit in.” Before the first week of school, Hammonds had completed an application for Freshman Council with Student Government. His involvement didn’t stop there. Hammonds applied to be on the executive board of Pillars for Carolina, an extended orientation program for incoming students, during his freshman year. “I never thought that I could be a leader. Coming to college changed all that,” he says. After one summer, Hammonds, who by then was earning a minor in leadership, applied to be executive
director of Pillars. It’s a position he has held since sophomore year. Hammonds also interned with USC’s Community Service Programs and helped organize service trips for students where he says he saw firsthand how Carolinians are pushing boundaries and becoming leaders. “Leadership is giving people the opportunity to make a difference,” he says. “Leadership is a great value to have because we’re all going to graduate with a degree, but it’s about standing apart from the others and saying ‘I did something.’ Leadership is a tradition here.” Hammonds plans to take his passion for leadership with him as he pursues a career in higher education. “Coming into college, I would have never expected that this is the person I am today,” he says. “It is inspiring to know that as students we have so much impact at the university. Here we can do so much more than study.”
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By Megan Sexton
Minor in leadership, major opportunities A spring break trip to Washington, D.C., changed Ian McIntyre’s life — and his future path. The senior political science major from Fort Mill, S.C., will be among the first USC students to earn a minor in leadership when he graduates in May 2013. As a student in Kirk Randazzo’s politics of leadership class, he had the opportunity to visit Washington and meet with leaders from Congress, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Court of Appeals. “I spoke with some fantastic leaders of our country,” McIntyre said, who returned to Columbia and turned his interest in politics into a leadership position with the College Republicans. A visit by USC Board of Trustees member William Hubbard to the leadership class turned into an internship opportunity for McIntyre with the Nelson Mullins law firm’s Charlotte office. He now plans to attend law school and pursue a career in corporate law. “My experiences started with that leadership class. It gave me the opportunity to meet with Mr. Hubbard and get that internship,” he said. “As a leadership minor, beyond having a certificate, I’ll have skills others won’t have. “I’ve had classes that they haven’t had, classes that have taught me what it takes to be a leader and how to make quick and hard decisions. It’s something that sets me apart from people without that experience.”
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As a Gamecock, my community has No Limits. Wilyem Cain, student
After his great-grandmother’s death, Wilyem Cain lost his way. But a gap-toothed grin and an outreached hand stopped his fall. When that seven-year-old asked to be his friend, the USC student realized his life had a purpose. He became active in the local Boys and Girls Club, serving as a role model to area kids. Now Wilyem is planning a future committed to children’s advocacy and public service so that he can catch them if they fall.
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