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Interdisciplinary Programs

Ethical Leadership

Why pursue a degree in ethical leadership at North Central College?

Current political, social and corporate climates speak to a need for ethical leaders. Ethical leaders make decisions rooted in ethical values like fairness, morals, ethics, trust and accountability. By demonstrating appropriate and ethical behavior, leaders show integrity and work towards influencing a narrative that haunts the working world. At North Central College, faculty are committed to preparing students to be curious, engaged, ethical and purposeful citizens and leaders. Through this program, you’ll be prepared for career choices in political science, management, marketing, international business and more. By evaluating complex societal issues and responsible choices, you can lead the way to creating meaningful and positive change.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN

  • Working with purpose and ethical intention
  • Displaying good and moral values through words and actions
  • Accomplish organizational goals with core company values in mind

then a degree in ETHICAL LEADERSHIP might be for you.

Why study ethical leadership at North Central College?

In the Classroom

Coursework topics:

  • Applied Leadership
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Design Thinking for Social Impact
  • Ethical Leadership
  • Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution
  • Leaders Without Borders
  • Leadership and Place
  • Leadership for Changemaking
  • Leadership Theory
  • Social Innovation

Beyond the Classroom

As an ethical leadership major, you can:

  • Apply for internships and jobs through robust faculty and alumni networks or the Center for Career and Professional Development.
  • Join NCC LEAD during your first year. This strengths-based leadership development program has earned awards from NASPA and the Association of Leadership Educators for its innovative programming and practice.
  • Practice leadership through our community-engaged learning courses, internships, and service trips.
  • Apply for our LEV Fellows Program and receive scholarship funding to pursue an LEV Major, Minor, or Concentration.
  • Get involved inside the classroom as a Preceptor and gain valuable, hands-on experience working alongside a professor in delivering a course.
  • Pursue excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service by becoming a member of our Blue Key Honor Society

 

Ethical Leadership, B.A.

The field of leadership studies represents a distinct academic discipline that readily connects to other fields of inquiry. The current political, social and corporate climates speak to a need for ethical leaders. The Ethical Leadership Major provides a comprehensive overview and systematic approach to the study of leadership and its ethical obligations and implications. Students pair the Ethical Leadership Major with their choice from a selection of preset minors to integrate and apply the theory of leadership to another area of academic interest.

For additional information and courses in this program, see .

Required Courses

  • LEAD 100 - Design Thinking for Social Impact

    LEAD 100 - Design Thinking for Social Impact

    4.00 credit hours

    As members of a diverse and global community, we face a variety of complex social issues. Students will learn the theory and practice of human-centered design, a creative approach to problem-solving that leads students through a process to empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test their ideas. Through readings, case studies, hands-on activities, field experiences, and interaction with community leaders and residents, students will develop the mindset and toolkit needed to create innovative solutions for change, regardless of the discipline or field of study they pursue. Students will identify local social or environmental challenges and work collaboratively to address them through the design thinking process.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 120 - Leaders Without Borders

    LEAD 120 - Leaders Without Borders

    4.00 credit hours

    World leaders must navigate an array of domestic and international issues on a daily basis. Their leadership qualities and styles often reflect cultural and social norms as well as their nation's political system. The underlying theme of this course is that the skills and behaviors that are perceived as effective leadership characteristics in one culture are not necessarily those that will be effective in a different culture. Students will explore the ways in which specific characteristics are valued differently by different cultures. Students will also acquire frameworks for assessing how to approach a work assignment in a culture that is not their own. Finally, students will consider the effect of globalization on leadership, and define the characteristics necessary to successfully lead in a highly diverse and complex world that challenges them to understand and respond to nationalism, terrorism, trade, human rights, environmental challenges, power and justice, and explore regional leadership issues.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 200 - Social Innovation

    LEAD 200 - Social Innovation

    4.00 credit hours

    Students learn to utilize design thinking and systems thinking methodology in approaching social and environmental problems. Students will develop an innovative skillset and apply it directly to complex issues of their choosing, while building their efficacy as change-makers. Social innovation is derived from the practice of solution-oriented thinking, that seeks to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 220 - Leadership for Change-Making

    LEAD 220 - Leadership for Change-Making

    4.00 credit hours

    Students will explore the theories of leadership from relational and ethical perspectives. Students will engage specifically with the ideas of self and others, self in communities and organizations, and self in relation to growth and change. Attention will be paid to leadership directed at social change in a variety of real world contexts.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 320 - Ethical Leadership

    LEAD 320 - Ethical Leadership

    4.00 credit hours

    What connects all leaders is that they attempt to guide or inspire the conduct of others (their employees, colleagues, fellow citizens, and so on). Our study of ethical leadership will investigate both what it means to be an ethical leader at a personal level (i.e., a leader, with the right values and character, who acts properly) and collective level (i.e., a leader who inspires ethical action in others). We will analyze examples of leadership at the top (e.g., business CEOs) and from the bottom (e.g., activists and whistleblowers). The course is organized in four sections, each centered on its own theme: (1) developing a toolkit for ethical decision making; (2) understanding the sources of moral failures; (3) developing ethical leaders; and (4) investigating leadership in the face of great moral conflict. Students will end the course by developing group projects that apply course material to a specific case of successful (or failed) leadership.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 390 - Seminar on Leadership Theory

    LEAD 390 - Seminar on Leadership Theory

    4.00 credit hours

    The goal of the seminar is to gain familiarity with the considerations involved in framing a comprehensive theory of leadership with special emphasis upon the connections between leadership, values and ethics. In independent projects students relate major theories about leadership to the study of specific leader/constituent relationships.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 494 - Capstone: Applied Leadership

    LEAD 494 - Capstone: Applied Leadership

    4.00 credit hours

    A structured seminar reflection upon experience of leadership relations gained in an approved experiential setting. Students spend approximately 10 to 12 hours per week in their experiential setting. One two-hour class meeting per week.

    Schedule Of Classes

Electives

One of the following:

  • LEAD 310 - Leadership and Place

    LEAD 310 - Leadership and Place

    4.00 credit hours

    Leadership and Place traces the influence of home towns and home places on contemporary and historical leadership paradigms while considering such ethical questions as: What role does place play in forming a responsible and responsive leader? How does one lead responsibly and well far from home? How and where do rural, urban and suburban ethical standards and value judgments converge and diverge? Where have the leaders of the past come from and where are they likely to be found in the future? Paying close attention to small communities and neighborhoods as key loci in the production of twentieth-century civic leaders and as ethical centers in a Jeffersonian republic, course texts, lectures and discussions feature real-life case studies designed to engage students in debates weighing ethical and moral positions viewed through the lens of place. Leadership and Place uniquely encourages students in the study of personal (inside-out) as well as cultural (outside-in) place-based, ethical perspectives while inviting them to consider the foundational role home communities play in ethical leadership on the local, regional and national level.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 350 - Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution

    LEAD 350 - Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution

    4.00 credit hours

    Students discover the origins of and build a conceptual framework for understanding ethnic and religious conflict. The approach will be interdisciplinary and examine the central causes, consequences, and ultimately solutions for resolving ethnic and religious conflict. We will use numerous case studies to explore the key conceptual and theoretical areas and questions within the field. The reading is plentiful, but thought provoking, and should enable you to explore the dynamics of global conflict with greater rigor and precision. Come prepared for a stimulating academic experience.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 360 - Precepting

    LEAD 360 - Precepting

    2.00 credit hours

    Precepting is a form of leadership in the classroom. A preceptor is not a simply a teaching assistant, a peer mentor or a tutor. A preceptor is an apprentice who works alongside a professor, participating in the management and delivery of a course he or she has already taken. In this seminar, students engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning, leadership theory, and strengths-based development while reflecting on their unique precepting experience. Precepting provides high-impact, experiential learning in the world of higher education.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 497 - Internship

    LEAD 497 - Internship

    0.00-12.00 credit hours

    Valuable professional experiences supplement classroom instruction and allow students to apply theories and concepts to broader issues and system. Students explore career options within a specific area of study and critically reflect on the experience in a structured manner. May be repeated with different professional experience.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 499 - Independent Study

    LEAD 499 - Independent Study

    1.00-12.00 credit hours

    Individual studies undertaken with guidance of a faculty member. May be repeated with different content.

    Schedule Of Classes

Additional Requirements

Complete a minor in one of the following partner departments or programs:

  • Interdisciplinary Programs: Chicago Area Studies; History of Ideas
  • College of Arts & Sciences: History; Religious Studies; Philosophy; Political Science; Environmental Studies
  • School of Entrepreneurship & Business: Management

Students must demonstrate elementary competence in a foreign language. For more information, see the B.A. Degree Requirements within the Academic Regulations section of this catalog.

Ethical Leadership Minor

Current political, social and corporate climates portend the need for ethical leaders. Students pursuing a minor in Ethical Leadership engage with leadership theory and its ethical foundations while continually examining the relevance, application and impact of leadership in today's society.

For additional information and courses in this program, see .

A minimum of 20 credit hours, including:

Required Courses

  • LEAD 120 - Leaders Without Borders

    LEAD 120 - Leaders Without Borders

    4.00 credit hours

    World leaders must navigate an array of domestic and international issues on a daily basis. Their leadership qualities and styles often reflect cultural and social norms as well as their nation's political system. The underlying theme of this course is that the skills and behaviors that are perceived as effective leadership characteristics in one culture are not necessarily those that will be effective in a different culture. Students will explore the ways in which specific characteristics are valued differently by different cultures. Students will also acquire frameworks for assessing how to approach a work assignment in a culture that is not their own. Finally, students will consider the effect of globalization on leadership, and define the characteristics necessary to successfully lead in a highly diverse and complex world that challenges them to understand and respond to nationalism, terrorism, trade, human rights, environmental challenges, power and justice, and explore regional leadership issues.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 220 - Leadership for Change-Making

    LEAD 220 - Leadership for Change-Making

    4.00 credit hours

    Students will explore the theories of leadership from relational and ethical perspectives. Students will engage specifically with the ideas of self and others, self in communities and organizations, and self in relation to growth and change. Attention will be paid to leadership directed at social change in a variety of real world contexts.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 320 - Ethical Leadership

    LEAD 320 - Ethical Leadership

    4.00 credit hours

    What connects all leaders is that they attempt to guide or inspire the conduct of others (their employees, colleagues, fellow citizens, and so on). Our study of ethical leadership will investigate both what it means to be an ethical leader at a personal level (i.e., a leader, with the right values and character, who acts properly) and collective level (i.e., a leader who inspires ethical action in others). We will analyze examples of leadership at the top (e.g., business CEOs) and from the bottom (e.g., activists and whistleblowers). The course is organized in four sections, each centered on its own theme: (1) developing a toolkit for ethical decision making; (2) understanding the sources of moral failures; (3) developing ethical leaders; and (4) investigating leadership in the face of great moral conflict. Students will end the course by developing group projects that apply course material to a specific case of successful (or failed) leadership.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 390 - Seminar on Leadership Theory

    LEAD 390 - Seminar on Leadership Theory

    4.00 credit hours

    The goal of the seminar is to gain familiarity with the considerations involved in framing a comprehensive theory of leadership with special emphasis upon the connections between leadership, values and ethics. In independent projects students relate major theories about leadership to the study of specific leader/constituent relationships.

    Schedule Of Classes

Elective(s)

Four credit hours from the following:

  • LEAD 310 - Leadership and Place

    LEAD 310 - Leadership and Place

    4.00 credit hours

    Leadership and Place traces the influence of home towns and home places on contemporary and historical leadership paradigms while considering such ethical questions as: What role does place play in forming a responsible and responsive leader? How does one lead responsibly and well far from home? How and where do rural, urban and suburban ethical standards and value judgments converge and diverge? Where have the leaders of the past come from and where are they likely to be found in the future? Paying close attention to small communities and neighborhoods as key loci in the production of twentieth-century civic leaders and as ethical centers in a Jeffersonian republic, course texts, lectures and discussions feature real-life case studies designed to engage students in debates weighing ethical and moral positions viewed through the lens of place. Leadership and Place uniquely encourages students in the study of personal (inside-out) as well as cultural (outside-in) place-based, ethical perspectives while inviting them to consider the foundational role home communities play in ethical leadership on the local, regional and national level.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 350 - Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution

    LEAD 350 - Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution

    4.00 credit hours

    Students discover the origins of and build a conceptual framework for understanding ethnic and religious conflict. The approach will be interdisciplinary and examine the central causes, consequences, and ultimately solutions for resolving ethnic and religious conflict. We will use numerous case studies to explore the key conceptual and theoretical areas and questions within the field. The reading is plentiful, but thought provoking, and should enable you to explore the dynamics of global conflict with greater rigor and precision. Come prepared for a stimulating academic experience.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 360 - Precepting

    LEAD 360 - Precepting

    2.00 credit hours

    Precepting is a form of leadership in the classroom. A preceptor is not a simply a teaching assistant, a peer mentor or a tutor. A preceptor is an apprentice who works alongside a professor, participating in the management and delivery of a course he or she has already taken. In this seminar, students engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning, leadership theory, and strengths-based development while reflecting on their unique precepting experience. Precepting provides high-impact, experiential learning in the world of higher education.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 497 - Internship

    LEAD 497 - Internship

    0.00-12.00 credit hours

    Valuable professional experiences supplement classroom instruction and allow students to apply theories and concepts to broader issues and system. Students explore career options within a specific area of study and critically reflect on the experience in a structured manner. May be repeated with different professional experience.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 499 - Independent Study

    LEAD 499 - Independent Study

    1.00-12.00 credit hours

    Individual studies undertaken with guidance of a faculty member. May be repeated with different content.

    Schedule Of Classes

Leadership Concentration

An Ethical Leadership concentration provides students with a meaningful package of leadership content to supplement their existing coursework. This concentration introduces students to leadership theory and its ethical foundations while continually examining the relevance, application and impact of leadership in today's society. Completion of an Ethical Leadership Concentration allows students to obtain a formal transcript designation with fewer courses and requirements than a full academic minor in the context of a challenging, coherent and meaningful LEV experience involving coursework and co-curricular efforts.

For additional information and courses in this program, see .

Requirements for the concentration come in three areas: coursework, applications and portfolio.

Required Courses

One of the Following:

  • LEAD 100 - Design Thinking for Social Impact

    LEAD 100 - Design Thinking for Social Impact

    4.00 credit hours

    As members of a diverse and global community, we face a variety of complex social issues. Students will learn the theory and practice of human-centered design, a creative approach to problem-solving that leads students through a process to empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test their ideas. Through readings, case studies, hands-on activities, field experiences, and interaction with community leaders and residents, students will develop the mindset and toolkit needed to create innovative solutions for change, regardless of the discipline or field of study they pursue. Students will identify local social or environmental challenges and work collaboratively to address them through the design thinking process.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 120 - Leaders Without Borders

    LEAD 120 - Leaders Without Borders

    4.00 credit hours

    World leaders must navigate an array of domestic and international issues on a daily basis. Their leadership qualities and styles often reflect cultural and social norms as well as their nation's political system. The underlying theme of this course is that the skills and behaviors that are perceived as effective leadership characteristics in one culture are not necessarily those that will be effective in a different culture. Students will explore the ways in which specific characteristics are valued differently by different cultures. Students will also acquire frameworks for assessing how to approach a work assignment in a culture that is not their own. Finally, students will consider the effect of globalization on leadership, and define the characteristics necessary to successfully lead in a highly diverse and complex world that challenges them to understand and respond to nationalism, terrorism, trade, human rights, environmental challenges, power and justice, and explore regional leadership issues.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 250 - Designing Your Life: Crafting a Future of Purpose and Impact

    LEAD 250 - Designing Your Life: Crafting a Future of Purpose and Impact

    2.00 credit hours

    Schedule Of Classes

One of the Following:

  • LEAD 200 - Social Innovation

    LEAD 200 - Social Innovation

    4.00 credit hours

    Students learn to utilize design thinking and systems thinking methodology in approaching social and environmental problems. Students will develop an innovative skillset and apply it directly to complex issues of their choosing, while building their efficacy as change-makers. Social innovation is derived from the practice of solution-oriented thinking, that seeks to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 220 - Leadership for Change-Making

    LEAD 220 - Leadership for Change-Making

    4.00 credit hours

    Students will explore the theories of leadership from relational and ethical perspectives. Students will engage specifically with the ideas of self and others, self in communities and organizations, and self in relation to growth and change. Attention will be paid to leadership directed at social change in a variety of real world contexts.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 230 - Conflict Resolution

    LEAD 230 - Conflict Resolution

    4.00 credit hours

    An inquiry into the theories and skills relating to the resolution of conflict in the community and the workplace. A variety of approaches will be used to understand and analyze issues and develop skills including lecture/discussion, negotiation exercises and simulated mediations. The course will focus on developing the ability to practice as a mediator.

    Schedule Of Classes

One of the Following:

  • LEAD 300 - Social Entrepreneurship

    LEAD 300 - Social Entrepreneurship

    4.00 credit hours

    An immersion into the rapidly-growing field of social entrepreneurship, teaching students how to address complex social or environmental challenges through the creation of market-based solutions that are innovative, measurable, sustainable and scalable. Through readings, interactive workshops, guest speakers, and field experiences, students will identify systemic social challenges and corresponding opportunities, pinpoint root causes, ideate and test possible solutions, explore funding sources, consider legal structures, and prepare an impact measurement plan. The course will culminate in a written social venture plan and pitch that communicates a viable solution to a social challenge.

    Schedule Of Classes

  • LEAD 320 - Ethical Leadership

    LEAD 320 - Ethical Leadership

    4.00 credit hours

    What connects all leaders is that they attempt to guide or inspire the conduct of others (their employees, colleagues, fellow citizens, and so on). Our study of ethical leadership will investigate both what it means to be an ethical leader at a personal level (i.e., a leader, with the right values and character, who acts properly) and collective level (i.e., a leader who inspires ethical action in others). We will analyze examples of leadership at the top (e.g., business CEOs) and from the bottom (e.g., activists and whistleblowers). The course is organized in four sections, each centered on its own theme: (1) developing a toolkit for ethical decision making; (2) understanding the sources of moral failures; (3) developing ethical leaders; and (4) investigating leadership in the face of great moral conflict. Students will end the course by developing group projects that apply course material to a specific case of successful (or failed) leadership.

    Schedule Of Classes

Applied Leadership Experience

One of the following:

  • Service in an North Central College organizational leadership position (e.g., student government, residence life staff, service trip coordinator).

  • Service in an North Central College athletic leadership position (e.g., Team Captain).

  • Completion of LEAD 360 - Precepting, or service in some other approved academic leadership position

  • Completion of LEAD 494 - Capstone: Applied Leadership, a LEAD approved internship experience involving significant leadership components.

  • Completion of a College Scholars Honors Thesis (HONR 400) with significant leadership and/or ethics dimentions.

Note: Students are encouraged to propose additional leadership applications to satisfy this component of the Leadership Concentration to the Director of the Leadership, Ethics and Values Program.

Leadership Readiness Portfolio

The Leadership Readiness Porfolio (electronic or hard-copy) must include all of the following:

  • Evidence of completion of the Applied Leadership Experience.

  • Copies of no fewer than three major written assignments submitted in one of the leadership concentration required courses.

  • A concluding/capstone personal statement reflecting on completion of your college career and of the Strengths Assessment, not to exceed three pages.

  • A complete resume.

  • Completion of all requirements for either a North Central College B.S. or B.A. degree.

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