Media Relations
William Woods University

Leaders. History books are filled with them, the populace complains about them and politicians campaign to be them. Learning how to be a leader is a task that can greatly help those in the work force.

William Woods University’s communications department offers a leadership concentration, now in its second year.  Four courses teach the specifics of interpersonal communication, small group leadership, logic and persuasion, and visionary leadership. 

 

Dr. Aimee Sapp, chair of the art and humanities division, said a leadership concentration is a great option for students who are interested in both communication and business.

 

“Leading a group of people and managing a company take a completely different set of skills,” Sapp said. “The nice thing about leadership is that it’s a skill set that you can learn about and harvest in yourself. It can carry you into any area that you go into after graduation.”  

 

The leadership concentration does benefit those interested in motivational and professional speaking, but the main focus of the concentration is teaching people how to motivate and assemble people to do things, to better themselves, their companies and their families.

 

“This concentration is really great to pair with public relations, because you only need a few more classes,” Mary Raines Scriber, a senior history and communications major from Bentonville, Ark., said. “I know that everything I've learned will be useful no matter what field I go into.” 

Melissa Alpers-Springer, assistant professor of communications, teaches the small group concentration that focuses on group dynamics

 

 “The focus is to talk about the dynamics that work within a small group,” she said, “and then to focus, as a leader, on how you can help move it in the right direction. Generally, groups are formed to complete tasks, so it’s important that somebody … manage the climate so everyone feels a part of it—so everyone has a voice, but at the same time moving everybody toward the goal.”

 

But Alpers-Springer notes that, “even if you are not a leader you still understand from the classes that you are part of a group and that you have an ethical responsibility to make sure that the group task gets completed.”

 

“We’ve had a lot of student interest, a lot of students asking questions about it,” Sapp said of the new concentration, “and as the numbers in that particular interest grow, so will the courses that we offer for it.”

 

The concentration was student driven because enough students on campus expressed interest in learning how to lead. End-of-course evaluations are some of the highest the department receives.

 

“We always develop courses thinking of the end result—how can students use this in their careers, how does it help their overall majors,” Sapp said. “This course’s sequences certainly do that, but I think an added benefit is a lot of students say that every single thing they are studying is something they can use right now.”

 

Eliza Payne, an MBA graduate student from of Zionsville, Ind., was the first to complete the concentration as an undergraduate. She now works as a graduate assistant in the university advancement and alumni office.

 

“I especially think it’s important to really apply during your college days because it’s when you are growing the most and it’s when you are able to kind of play around and do whatever you want and not face horrible consequences,” she said.

 

Payne recognizes how often she applies what she learned on a regular basis.

 

 “I actually, literally, use aspects from the leadership concentration every day. Just recognizing different leadership qualities, I have seen what is effective and what isn’t.”

 

Alpers-Springer said the major is “becoming more common,” but is rare enough that “I think it would call attention to you as a job applicant. I also think that these are necessary skills wherever you go because human endeavors are groups.”

CUTLINES:
Dani Moritz, Melissa Alpers-Springer and Nick Hoover discuss the assignment.

Melissa Alpers-Springer oversees the work of (left to right) Katy Carron, Courtney Libbrecht, Carson Boehm and Chanel Benson.

Alix Fiorino, Katherine Wortmann, Laura Hornecker and John Couper work on their project, as Melissa Alpers-Springer looks on.

Alix Fiorino researches information for her assignment.